JUN    i  ?,  .'978 


A 


THE   CALL   OF   THE   NEW   ERA 


THE  CALL  OF  THE 

NEW  ERA 


ITS  OPPORTUNITIES  AND  RESPONSIBILITJ 

<-<:^!'.V  GF  PRi;\^ 

12 


/     BY   REV.  \     />>n.^ 


^A- 


WILLIAM  MUIR,  M.A.,  B.D.,  B.L: 


Ol-  I 


EDITED   BY 

GEORGE  SMITH,  C.I.E.,  LL.D.,  F.R.G.S.,  F.S.S. 


\ 


AMERICAN  TRACT    SOCIETY 

150   NASSAU   STREET  NEW   YORK 


1.0  my  Wife 


PREFATORY  NOTE 


GEORGE  SMITH,  CLE.,  LL.D.,  F.R.G.S.,  F.S.S. 


rpHE  unique  value  of  "  The  Call  of  the  New 
-^  Era"  lies  in  the  fact  that  (1)  it  is  written 
by  a  minister  of  the  Gospel  to  every  fellow- 
minister  and  student,  to  every  member  and  family 
of  the  Christian  Church ;  (2)  the  work  combines 
a  scholarly  exegesis,  spiritual  discrimination,  and 
accurate  history,  all  eloquently  enforcing  the  call 
of  the  new  era.  Though  the  writer  makes  no 
direct  reference  to  Neander — the  most  neglected 
though  still  the  spiritually  ablest  of  the  Church 
Historians — he  shows  the  same  spiritual  insight 
and  logical  power  as  that  great  scholar  who  passed 
from  Judaism  to  Platonism,  and  was  led  by  the 
Holy  Spirit  to  Evangelical  Christianity.  The 
Author  states  and  enforces  the  Missionary  Call  to 
every  progressing  Christian,  from  the  Old  Testa- 
ment era  of  preparation,  through  Christ  and  the 
successive  Christian  centuries   to   the  new  era  of 

vii 


Prefatory  Note 

to-day.  As  a  Scotsman  familiar  with  the  history 
of  the  evangelisation  of  his  countrymen,  he  lightens 
up  the  period  of  Mediaeval  Missions  to  and  by  our 
own  fathers,  who  first  received  Christ  themselves, 
and  hastened  to  tell  the  glad  tidino's  to  Eng-land 
and  to  Europe. 

God's  providential  development  and  the  Church's 
Christian  duty  are  pursued  to  the  irresistible  con- 
clusion— the  obedience  of  every  Christian  to  the 
Lord's  command  and  the  heavenly  vision. 

G.  S. 


Vlll 


CONTENTS 


INTKODUCTION 

The  Opportunities  and  Eesponsibilities  of  the  New 

Era  ;  it  may  be  the  Last  Era  . 
A  Christian  Eegeneration  or  a  Pagan  Renaissance 
The  Whole  Orient  astir  as  never  before 
Even  Mohammedanism  is  moving 
Who  is  to  be  the  Master  of  Awakening  Africa? 
How  the  Call  comes  with  all  History  behind  it 
The  Apocalypse  of  the  Ages 
The  Cumulative  Appeal        .... 
The  Teaching  of  the  Holy  Spirit  through  History 
How  Obedience  brings  Blessing 

CHAPTER  I 
THE  ERA  OF  PREPARATION 

Hints  and  Anticipations  in  Old  Testament 
The  Method  of  Seclusion  divinely  chosen 
Analogy  from  Expulsion  op  English  from  France 
Ezra's   Reformation    and    the    Purpose    of    its    Ex 

clusivism    ...... 

The  Message  of  the  Prophets 

The  Apocrypha  and  Foreign  Missions 

The  Doctrine  of  Tribal  or  Local  Deities 

Hebrew  Law  about  Oppression  of  Strangers     . 

Jeremiah  and  the  New  Covenant  . 

Salvation   for    Heathen    still   means   Absorption  in 

Israel  ;  The  Choice  of  Israel  . 
Simeon  and  Anna,  and  those  "that  looked  for  Re 

demption"  ...... 

The  Coming  of  Christ  .... 

ix 


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4 
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5 
6 
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8 
9 
10 

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13 

14 

15 

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20 

21 

23 

24 


Contents 


PAGE 

The  Preparation  among  Heathen  Nations  .  .      25 

The  Effects  op  the  Diaspora  .  .  .  .26 

The  Fulness  of  Time  .  ,  .  .  .28 


CHAPTER  II 
THE  APOSTOLIC  ERA 

From    Pentecost    till    Pliny     sent     his    Letter     to 

Trajan        .......      33 

Our  Lord  and  Missions         .  .  .  .  .34 

The  Great  Commission  implicit  from  the  first  .  .      35 

The  Significance  of  Pentecost       .  .  .  .35 

Persecution  required  to  disperse  the  Disciples  .      35 

The     Decisive     Steps     often     taken     by     Nameless 

Evangelists  .  .  .  .  .  .36 

Revival  among  the  Samaritans       .  .  .  .36 

The  Gentile  Cornelius  converted  .  .  .37 

The  Beginning  of  the  Foreign  Mission  Era       .  .      37 

The  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles  at  his  Post  .  .      38 

The  Holy  Ghost  the  Great  Propagating  Power  .      38 

The  Beginning  of  the  Struggle  with  Imperial  Rome  .  39 
Paradox  that  some  of   the  Best  Emperors  were  the 

Worst  Persecutors         .  .  .  .  .41 

Little  known  of  the  First  Missionaries  .  .  .41 

The  Value  of  Traditions  regarding  their  Work  .      42 

Peter  and  John  .  .  .  .  .  .43 

Paul's  Fruitful  Journeys     .  .  .  .  .44 

New  Light  now  falling  on  this  Era        .  .  .45 

How  the  Different    Churches    grew  up.     Rome   and 

Galatia       .  .  .  .  .  .  .45 

Primitive  Christianity  self- propagating    .  .  .46 

Influence  of  Christian  Philanthropy       .  .  .46 

Shown  by  Persecution.  References  in  Classic  Writers  48 
The  Kind  of  People  won.    Educated  Citizen  Class  as 

WELL  AS  Poor        .  .  .  .  .  .49 

Christians    in    the    Middle    Classes    and    among   the 

Aristocracy  .  .  .  .  .  .50 

Pliny's  Letter  and  its  Testimony  .  .  .  .51 

Every  Believer  a  Missionary         .  .  .  .52 

X 


Contents 


CHAPTER  III 
TILL  THE  EMPIRE  AVAS  WON 

FAOB 

Two  Centuries — 112  a.d.  till  313  a.d.  .  .  .55 

Mystery  op  Iniquity  at  Work  .  .  .  .56 

The  Blight  of  the  Priest    .  .  .  .  .56 

Disappearance  op  Miraculous  Gifts  .  .  .57 

Gibbon's  Estimate  of  Christian  Population  in  313         .      58 
Enemies  within  the  Church  as  well  as  without  .      59 

Gnosticism  :   Ebionism  :    Easter   Dispute  :    Montanists  : 

Sabellianism  .  .  .  .  .  .59 

The  Apologists  were  really  Preachers  and  Mission- 
aries .......      62 

The    Great    Strategic    Vantage    Points    occupied  for 

Christ         .  .  .  .  .  .  .62 

Christianity  an  Illegal  Religion  .  .  .  .64 

The  Triumphs  op  the  Gospel  .  .  .  .67 

The  Beginning  of  the  End  .  .  .  .  .68 

The  Decree  op  Milan,  313    .  .  .  .  .69 

Christians  had  everywhere  perforce  been  a  Separate 

People         .......      70 

Entire     Christian     Army     mobilised     and     on     War 

Footing       .......      72 

PoLTCARP  :  Justin  Martyr  :  Tertullian  :  Origen  .  .      73 

The  Wonderful  Fruits  of  Missionary  Work      .  .      81 

The  New  Dangers  which  came  with  Imperial  Recogni- 
tion .......      82 


CHAPTER  IV 
MEDIEVAL  MISSIONS 

Disappearance  op  Flourishing  Churches  .  .      87 

How    THE    Blight    came    and    how    Complete  its  Evil 

Work 88 

Periodic  Recrudescence  of  Paganism,  which  was  never 

QUITE  destroyed    .  .  .  .  .  .89 

Spread  of  the  Gospel  among  the  Barbarians     .  .      90 

Not  a  Story  of  Uninterrupted  Progress  .  .      91 

xi 


Contents 


mohajimedanissi  ..... 

Scotland's  Story  typical  of  what  was  going  on  Else 

WHERE  ...... 

Traces    op    the    Evangelists    to  be    found    in  Place 

Names         ...... 

NiNiAN.    Tendency    to  relate   everything    to  Eomish 

Influence   ...... 

Palladius  and  Servanus       .... 

Kentigern  or  Mungo.    Glasgow  Coat  of  Arms  . 

CoLUMBA.    What  Monasteries  were  then 

How  they  gradually  degenerated . 

Iona.    How  New  Ionas  sprung  up  as  Mission  Centres 

Many     Barbarians     received     the     Gospel     through 

Corrupt  Channels  .... 

EoMANisiNG     Zeal.       Disappearance      of      Missionary 

Zeal  ...... 

God  never  left  without  a  Witness 
^  Marco  Polo's  Story  of  Evangelisation.    Friar    John 

OF  Monte  Corvino  .... 

•  The  Work  in  China  ..... 
Attempts  to  state  Progress  numerically. 


CHAPTER  V 
THE  REFORMATION  AND  MISSIONS 

The  Significance  op  the  Reformation 
Only  the  Germanic  Peoples  were  won 
A  Revival  of  Heart  Religion 
The  Natural  Result  op  New  Life 
Luther  :  Wishart  :  Tyndale  :  Knox  :  Wille  :  Gabriel 
The  Great  Place  given  to  Preaching 
Yet  Foreign  Missions  have  hardly  any  Place  . 
Rome  was  busy  among  the  Heathen 
Franciscans  and  Dominicans 
Mission  Work  followed  the  Flag  . 
The  Preoccupation  op  the  Reformers  at  Home  . 
Counter-Reformation.    Social  Problems    . 
How  the  Confidence  op  the  Poor  was  lost 

xii 


Contents 


PAGB 

Eeflex  Influence  of  Missions         ....    138 

John  Knox  and  Election       .....    139 

Sir  Walter  Kaleigh  in  Virginia    ....    141 

The  Expected  End  of  the  World  ....     142 

The  Gospel  to  be  a  Witness  .  .  .  .142 

The  Appeal  of  Erasmus        .....     144 

Admiral     Coligny     and      Calvin  :      Gustavus      Vasa  : 

Frobisher  and  Wolfall.  .  .  .  .146 

The    Eeformation  Attitude  could  not  remain    Nega- 
tive ........     148 

Warneck's  Two  Inferences  very  Questionable   .  .    149 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  ERA  OF  DEFORMATION 

How  Neglect  deepened  into  Rejection     .            .  .155 

The  Vicious  Circle  of  Cause  and  Effect            .  .155 

Baron  von  Welz's  Appeal  and  Example  (1664)  .  ,  156 
Carey's  Experience  (1786)     .....     158 

The  Scottish  General  Assembly's  Decision  (1796)  .     158 

Calvinism  had  become  Fatalism      .            .            .  .159 

But  Many  still  take  up  the  Same  Attitude       .  .     160 

The  Fire  on  the  Altar  never  quite  went  out  .  .     164 

The  Jesuit  Missions.    Superficial  and  Unreal  .  .     164 

Xavier's  Unhappy  and  Unworthy  Methods          .  .166 

Mission    Work    in    New    England.      John    Eliot  and 

David  Brainerd    ......     169 

Pietism  and  its  Fruits.    Tranquebar,  Ziegenbalg  .    170 

The  Moravian  Brethren.    Zinzendorf     .            .  .172 

Their  Divergence  from  Apostolic  Methods         .  .173 

The  Darkness  before  the  Dawn    .           .           .  .174 

Even  the  Missionaries  came  under  the  Blight  .  .176 

Missionary  Hymns       .            .            .            .            .  .177 

Schwartz  :  Carey        .            .            .            .            .  .178 

Influence  op  East  India  Company.    India's  Claim  on 

Britain       .           .           .           .           .           .  .183 

xiii 


Contents 


CHAPTER  VII 
THE  EVANGELICAL  REVIVAL 

TAOK 

Only  less  remarkable  in  Missions  than  First  Century  191 

The  Methodist  Revival.    John  Wesley  a  Supreme  Gift  192 

The  Power  of  Unbelief.    Blackstone's  Testimony        .  194 

Hannah  More's  Testimony  and  Limitations          .            .  194 

Opposition  to  Work  among  the  Heathen.            .            .  195 

Preparation  through  Union  in  Prayer    .            .            .  196 

Revival  deepened  by  Missionary  Enterprise       .            .  198 

State  of  the  Churches  in  1791        ....  200 

Outburst  of  Philanthropy.    End  op  the  Slave  Trade.  202 

The  Healing  Salt  of  Revival         ....  205 

Missionary  Societies    come    with   a  Rush.    Tract  and 

Bible  Societies      ......  205 

The  Revival  on  the  Continent.    American  Missions    .  210 

Optimism  as  to  the  Future  and  its  Grounds  .  .  213 
Instances  of  how  the  Fire  spread  .  .  .215 
Thomas  Chalmers  :  William  Wilberforce            .            .216 

Gracious  Interaction  of  Spiritual  Forces           .            .  219 

Charles  Simeon  :  Alexander  Duff             .            .            .  219 

Cambridge  and  St.  Andrews.    Moulin  and  Serampore.  222 


CHAPTER  VIII 
THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY 

Greatest  op  all  the  Centuries  except  the  First  .  227 
The  "  Gift  op  Tongues  "  op  the  New  Era  .  .    229 

Began  with  Fresh  Sense  op  Hope,  and  of  the  Rights 

op  Man       .  .  .  .  .  .  .231 

Enormous    Progress    made.      Some    of    the    Wonders 

WROUGHT       .......     232 

Mr.  Churchill:  Sir  Georg^  Le  Hunte  :  Mr.  Roosevelt  234 
The  Light  scattering  the  Darkness.     Story  op  China 

AND  Japan  .......    237 

The  Extent  and  Value  of  Romish  Missions        .  .    242 

Some    Dominating    Features    op    Nineteenth-Century 

Work  .  .  .  .  .  .  .246 

Different  Types  op  Organisation  ....    247 

xiv 


Contents 


PAGE 

Death  op  Livingstone,  and  Martyrdom  of  Hannington  248 

The  Cambridge  Seven.    Student  Volunteer  Movement  251 

Specialisation  and  Differentiation            .            .            .  253 

Educational  Work.    Industrial  Work      .            .            .  254 

Medical  Missions.    Women's  Work             .            .            .  255 

Colonial,  Continental,  and  American  Missionaries       .  260 
How  Names  have  become  associated  with  Lands.     The 

Legion  of  Honour           .....  261 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY 

Situation  both  Critical  and  Acute            .            .            .  267 

Predominance  op  Social  Problems  .            .           ^           .  268 

The  Situation  in  the  Far  East      ....  269 

A  Making  or  Marring  Time             ....  270 

The  New  Imperial  Way  of  Looking  at  Missions            .  272 

The  Missionary  Inheritance  of  the  Twentieth  Century  275 

The  Native  Churches.    Their  Moral  Difficulties        .  275 

Mission  Literature      ......  279 

Hostile  and  Disintegrating  Influences  also  at  Work  280 
"  The  Higher  Criticism."    Dislike  op  the  Supernatural 

AMONG  Many  .  .  ,  .  .  .281 

"Comparative  Religion."    The   Temperature   lowered 

FOR  Some     .......  283 

Difficulties  about  Eternal  Doom   ....  285 

The  Predominance  of  the  Material          .            .            .  288 

The  Critical  Spirit  also  at  Work  Abroad  .  .  291 
Godless  Learning  in  India,     Craving  for  Education 

IN  China    .......  292 

"The  Immemorial  East"       .....  294 

The     Crisis     in      the     Nearer     East.       Mohammedan 

Missions      .......  295 

Extreme     Urgency     of     Situation     in    Soudan.      Sir 

Reginald  Wingate          .....  296 

Professor  Warneck's  Testimony.  Mr.  Mott's  Appeal  .  298 
Interaction  and  Reaction  between  Home  and  Foreign 

Fields          .......  302 

Obedience  the  Necessary  Condition  of  Success            .  304 

XV 


Contents 


CHAPTER  X 
THE  CALL  OF  THE  NEW  ERA 

PAOB 

Its  Supreme  Urgency  ......  309 

Concerns  Governments  as  well  as  Churches      .  .  309 

The  Case  op  China.    Other  Cases  ....  309 

Inventions     and    Discoveries    should    all     be    Con- 
secrated     .......  314 

Paganism  not  quite  Unknown  in  the  Homelands  .  317 

Paganism  Positive  and  not  Negative  merely      .  .  319 

Every  Christian  should  do  Mission  Work  .  .  321 

The  Call  to  Unity.    Reunion  began  in  Foreign  Field  322 

The  Activity  of  the  Enemies  op  the  Gospel     .  ,  325 

The  Appeal  to  the  Heroic  in  the  Church         .  .  329 

The  Whole  Truth  should  be  told.    The  Intelligence 

Department  ......  331 

Ignorance  still  Stupendous  and  Shameful         .  .  332 

The  Gospel  alone  reintegrates  Society  .  .  .  335 

Wisdom  op  Serpent  and   Harmlessness  of    Dove  both 

NEEDED         .......  336 

The  Lessons  of  the  Ages  : — 

1.  "Behold,  all  Souls  are  Mine"      .  .  .  337 

2.  "Preach  the  Gospel  to  Every  Creature"  .  338 

3.  Every  Believer  ought  to  be  a  Missionary         .  338 

4.  Blessed  Circles  of  Grace  and  Vicious  Circles 

OF  Sin  .  .  .  .  .  .  .339 

5.  The  Best  may  be  Short-Sighted  and  One-Sided    339 

6.  Disobedience  the  Pathway  to  Rationalism  and 

Doom    .  .  .  .  .  .  .340 

7.  The  True  Impulse  of  Humanity  knows  Nothing 

op  Geographical  Limitations        .  .  .    341 

8.  The     Debt    op     the    Home    Churches    to    the 

Churches  among  the  Heathen      .  .  .    342 

9.  Now  is  the  Judgment  op  this  World,  the  Crisis 

OP  the  Church  .....    342 

10.  The  Call  of  the  New  Era   both   Urgent  and 

Inspiring        ......    343 


XVI 


INTRODUCTORY    CHAPTER 

ITS   OPPORTUNITIES  AND 
RESPONSIBILITIES 


N.E.  — I 


'*  Now  is  the  judgment  of  this  world.  .  .  .  And  I,  if  I  be  lifted 
up  from  the  earth,  will  draw  all  men  unto  Me." — John  12,  31,  32. 

"  Human  crimes  are  many,  but  the  crime  of  being  deaf  to  God's 
voice,  of  being  blind  to  all  but  parchments  and  antiquarian  rubrics 
when  the  Divine  handwriting  is  abroad  on  the  sky — certainly 
there  is  no  crime  which  the  supreme  powers  do  n»ore  terribly 
avenge." — Carlyle. 

"  We  must  take  a  long  run  that  we  may  leap  the  better." — 

Montaigne. 

"  Upon  the  great  world's  altar  stairs 
That  slope  through  darkness  up  to  God." 

Tennyson. 


THE    CALL    OF    THE 

NEW    ERA 


INTRODUCTORY  CHAPTER 

ITS    OPPORTUNITIES    AND 
RESPONSIBILITIES 

rpHE  sense  of  being  on  the  verge  of  a  new  era, 
-*-  and  some  think  on  the  verge  of  the  last 
era,  is  widespread  among  those  who  have  under- 
standing of  the  times  or  are  sensitive  to  the 
Divine  leading  in  providence  and  grace.  Every- 
where those  who  are  at  the  front  and  in  touch  with 
spiritual  movements,  whether  at  home  or  abroad, 
feel  that  somehow  the  situation  is  critical  to  a 
supreme  degree.  They  are  in  fear  and  great  joy, 
and  join  trembling  with  their  mirth.  They  are 
amazed  at  the  unique  opportunities  of  the  new 
epoch,  they  are  bewildered  by  its  unparalleled 
responsibilities  and  dangers. 

3 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

We  seem  to  have  reached  an  age  when  nations 
may  be  born  in  a  day,  but  when  there  is  also  the 
possibility  that  the  awakening  nations  may  be 
perverted  in  the  very  hour  of  their  birth.  There 
ought  to  be  a  Christian  regeneration ;  there  may 
be  a  Pagan  Renaissance.  We  have  come  to  another 
of  the  great  watersheds  of  history,  for  only  the 
first  century  and  the  sixteenth  can  be  compared  to 
the  twentieth  :  and,  just  as  a  soul  which  has  been 
faced  by  the  claims  of  Christ  can  never  be  as  it  was 
before,  the  choice  for  the  nations  now  is  nothing 
less  than  that  between  reformation  and  deforma- 
tion, betw^een  the  peaceful  sea  and  the  frozen  tide. 
The  call  of  the  new  era,  like  that  of  Christ  Himself, 
must  be  a  savour  either  of  life  unto  life  or  of  death 
unto  death. 

It  is  the  primary  duty  of  the  Church  of 
Christ  to  enter  in  and  occupy  for  her  Lord  when- 
ever and  wherever  she  can ;  and  there  were  never 
so  many  open  doors  as  there  are  now,  each  with 
its  eloquent  appeal  for  those  who  bring  tidings  of 
great  joy.  For  all  who  have  ears  to  hear,  the 
summons  to  obey  the  call  of  the  new  era  is  coming 
with  a  peculiar  emphasis,  with  the  assurance  that 
this  command  too  has  the  promise  bound  up  with 
it,  and  that  wherever  there  is  the  will  to  obey 
there  will  also  be  the  power.  The  whole  Orient  is 
astir   as   it   never   has   been   before.     What  with 

4 


Its  Opportunities  and   Responsibilities 

unrest  in  India,  many-sided  awakening  in  Korea 
and  Japan,  and  revival  here  and  there  in  the  vast 
Chinese  Empire,  the  willing  worker  hardly  knows 
which  of  the  open  doors  to  choose. 

In  1908  there  were  seven  hundred  Korean 
students  at  Tokio,  two  hundred  more  than  the 
year  before ;  and  of  these  a  hundred  were  in  Bible 
classes  and  over  forty  were  baptized  Christians. 
Even  among  the  '  Mohammedans,  so  long  con- 
sidered impenetrable,  there  are  signs  of  a  shaking 
among  the  dry  bones,  of  a  moving  among  the 
imperturbable  and  hitherto  immovable ;  and  the 
defiant  attitude  of  followers  of  the  False  Prophet 
is  being  strangely  modified.  Unknown  to  the 
Christian  world,  conferences  have  been  held  to 
discuss  the  decay  of  Islam,  and  prevent  its  disin- 
tegration in  presence  of  the  modern  spirit  of  inquiry 
and  change.  The  first  of  these  was  held  at  Mecca 
in  the  year  1899,  and  the  second  at  Cairo  in  1907, 
the  subject  of  conference  then  being,  "  The  Causes 
of  the  Decay  of  Islam." 

In  view  of  the  history  of  Islam,  the  significance 
of  this  is  overwhelmino-  showino^  as  it  does  that 
not  even  Mohammedanism  can  stand  ao;ainst  the 
pervasive  influence  of  the  Bible  and  of  Bible-inspired 
civilisation.  Whatever  else  Modernism  is  doing, 
it  is  breaking  up  the  fallow  ground,  and  is  at  work 
in  all  lands  ;  and  who  knows  how  soon  there  may 

5 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

be  a  religious  movement  in  the  Mohammedan 
world  analogous  to  that  of  the  Young  Turks  in 
politics,  which  has  already  worked  such  wonders 
in  regions  far  too  long  regarded  as  practically 
hopeless  by  many  Christians.  That  the  new 
movement  in  the  Turkish  Empire  has  brought 
Mohammedans  and  Christians  into  line  with  each 
other,  and  that  unbiased  observers  say  it  is  due 
most  of  all  to  the  beneficent  leavening  work  of 
the  Robert  College  and  the  American  Missionaries, 
are  striking  reminders  that  the  new  era  has  dawned 
in  the  Near  East  as  well  as  in  the  Far  East.  In 
Persia  there  is  the  promise  of  freedom  of  thought 
hitherto  unknown,  while  in  Morocco  the  new  ruler 
is  inclined  to  be  friendly.  All  through  Africa,  too, 
there  is  a  great  crisis  wherever  the  New  Moham- 
medanism is  at  work.  In  vast  regions  in  the 
Soudan  and  Central  Africa,  the  supreme  question 
just  now  is  whether  Islam  or  Christianity  is  to  be 
first  in  the  field,  whether  Mohammed  or  Christ  is 
to  be  the  Master  of  awakening  Africa. 

For  those  who  have  been  ground  down  by  witch- 
craft and  slavery,  and  enveloped  in  the  most  cruel 
darkness,  even  Mohammedanism  would  mean  an 
uplift ;  and  its  work  of  evangelisation  is  easier  than 
that  of  the  Christians,  since  it  is  a  religion  for  the 
natural  man,  and  no  moral  or  spiritual  conversion 
is  needed   for   transference   from  one  side  to  the 

6 


Its   Opportunities  and  Responsibilities 

other.  But  if  in  any  sense  it  is  a  good,  it  is  the 
good  which  is  the  enemy  of  the  best. 

Nor  is  it  for  Eastern  peoples  alone  that  the  crisis 
has  come.  The  present  predominance  of  social 
interests  in  the  homelands  is  but  the  proof  that 
empty  hearts  are  crying  out  in  their  loneliness  for 
the  living  God.  If  the  Churches  in  Great  Britain  and 
America  have  no  eyes  for  the  beckoning  hands,  no 
hearts  to  thrill  with  glad  response  to  the  dawn  of 
the  new  day,  they  will  doom  themselves  to  disaster 
and  decay,  to  blindness  and  false  doctrine.  Surely, 
when  the  enemy  is  beginning  to  waver  at  the  very 
centre,  the  time  has  come  to  call  up  all  the  reserves 
and  win  the  day. 

Our  gracious  God  is  never  before  His  time,  nor  is 
He  ever  behind.  If  we  are  to  hear  this  new  call 
as  we  ought,  we  must  know  something  of  the 
long  train  of  events  which  have  given  it  birth,  and 
how  it  has  grown  out  of  the  ages  which  are  long 
since  gone.  Goethe  had  it  that  the  universe,  as 
we  know  it,  is  the  living  garment  of  God  ;  and  that 
is  even  more  true  of  the  history  of  the  ages  from 
the  Christian  view-point,  as  His  purpose  of  grace 
has  been  unfolded  and  is  being  unfolded  still. 
Similarly,  for  Carlyle  history  was  a  larger  Bible, 
which  contains,  for  all  who  have  an  eye  and  a  soul 
to  read  aright,  a  clear  record  of  God's  dealings 
with  men.     If  we  are  to  be  in  full  sympathy  with 

7 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

the  message  and  appeal  of  our  own  time,  we  must 
follow  with  reverence  the  apocalypse  of  the  ages 
and  see  what  God  has  wrought.  To  company  with 
Christ  in  His  glorious  march  down  through  history, 
and  see  Him  "  weaving  the  living  robe  of  divinity 
upon  the  rushing  loom  of  time,"  is  to  come  under 
the  power  of  an  appeal  which  is  cumulative  and 
irresistible. 

For  the  most  part,  God's  revelation  of  Himself 
has  been  made  through  historical  events.  He  has 
clothed  His  message  of  salvation  in  gracious  con- 
crete deeds ;  and  there  is  no  reason  for  believing 
that  He  has  ceased  either  to  intervene  in  the  affairs 
of  men  or  to  show  forth  His  purpose  and  glory 
to  loyal  souls.  The  Holy  Ghost  Who  taught 
the  Apostle  Peter,  through  his  intercourse  with 
Cornelius,  that  Christianity  could  be  no  mere 
appanage  of  Judaism ;  who  taught  Bunyan  that 
men  must  not  be  allowed  to  silence  those  whom 
God  has  commanded  to  speak ;  and  who  taught 
Whitefield  and  Wesley,  through  men  and  women 
won  at  field-preachings,  that  they  must  have  done 
with  the  prejudice  that  the  Gospel  could  be  pro- 
claimed only  in  consecrated  buildings,  or  by  those 
on  whom  the  hands  of  a  bishop  had  been  laid, 
is  teaching  us  that  the  Great  Commission  of 
the   risen   Lord   to   preach   the  Gospel   to   every 

creature   was    meant   to    be    taken    literally,    and 

8 


Its   Opportunities  and   Responsibilities 

that    Christians    can    disobey   it    only    at    their 
peril. 

Beyond  question  the  Foreign  Mission  work  of 
modern  times  has  done  much  to  deepen  the  life  of 
the  Church  through  that  light  which  obedience 
never  fails  to  bring ;  but  Christians  everywhere 
must  follow  on  in  that  pathway  still  more  strenu- 
ously, if  the  discoveries  and  inventions  of  the  new 
era  are  to  be  a  blessing  and  not  a  curse.  To  study 
the  Divine  revelation  as  it  has  been  made  histori- 
cally in  Divine  deeds,  and  is  now  culminating  in 
the  ends  of  the  earth,  is  not  only  to  be  in  line  with 
modern  thought  at  its  best ;  it  is  to  follow  the 
stream  of  grace  all  the  way  from  its  source  in  the 
heart  of  the  Eternal,  and  to  see  beauty  and  blessing 
spring  forth  wherever  it  flows. 

Those  who  accustom  themselves  to  listen  to 
God's  voice  in  the  past  cannot  fail  to  hear  what 
He  is  saying  now.  They  know  the  voice  of  the 
Good  Shepherd,  even  when  He  speaks  in  unwonted 
ways ;  and  He  is  ever  speaking  to  reverent  and 
God-fearing  souls,  since  for  them  to  hear  is  to  obey. 
In  speaking  of  the  triumphal  entry  of  our  Lord 
St.  John  says :  "  These  things  understood  not  His 
disciples  at  the  first :  but  when  Jesus  was  glorified, 
then  remembered  they  that  these  things  were 
written  of  Him,  and  that  they  had  done  these 
things  unto  Him." 

9 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

So  as  the  years  went  past,  and  the  Empire  was 
won,  and  there  were  Christians  all  over  the  earth, 
new  light  was  shed  on  the  universality  of  the 
Divine  love  and  on  the  magnitude  of  the  Divine 
purpose,  as  well  as  on  the  methods  of  the  Divine 
working  ;  and  in  this  new  light  many  a  prediction 
and  event  in  Scripture  became  instinct  with  fresh 
meaning  and  power.  Nor  can  it  be  otherwise  with 
believers  yet,  if  they  journey  with  the  self-reveal- 
ing God  of  all  grace,  as  He  has  made  Himself 
known  throughout  the  ages,  and  has  never  left 
Himself  without  a  witness  even  in  the  darkest 
days. 


lO 


CHAPTER  I 
THE   ERA   OF   PREPARATION 


II 


"  Every  valley  shall  be  exalted,  and  every  mountain  and  hill 
shall  be  made  low." — ISA.  40.  4. 

"  Israelite  proiDhetism  was  a  joui'nalism  speaking  iu  the  name  of 
God." — Renan. 

"  I  know  the  right  and  say  the  right  and  yet  the  wrong  pursue." 
— Latin  Saying. 


J2 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  ERA  OF  PREPARATION 

npiIE  roots  of  the  universality  and  spirituality  of 
-■-  Christianity  are  without  question  to  be  found 
in  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  Testament  and  in  the 
great  historical  interventions  of  the  self-revealing 
Jehovah  therein  recorded.  All  through  that  Dis- 
pensation there  were  hints  and  anticipations  of  the 
Divine  purpose  of  salvation  for  the  heathen — fore- 
casts and  prophecies  of  the  Messiah,  Who  in  the 
fulness  of  time  was  to  break  down  the  walls  of 
separation  and  claim  the  whole  world  for  Himself. 
Nor  does  this  depend  on  the  testimony  of  par- 
ticular texts.  It  is  the  whole  burden  and  meaning 
of  a  Dispensation  which  was  manifestly  a  time  of 
preparation  for  the  coming  Christ,  Who  was  to  speak 
to  all  the  heavy-laden,  and  to  be  lifted  up  from 
the  earth  that  He  might  draw  all  men  unto  Him. 

As  far  back  as  the  Book  of  Genesis,  Israel  is 
set  forth  as  an  ordinary  branch  on  the  stock  of 
humanity  ;  and  when  Abraham  was  called,  it  was  in 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

order  that  in  him  all  the  families  of  the  earth 
might  be  blessed.  The  very  thought  of  Israel  as 
the  first-born  of  God  implied  that  the  other  nations 
were  to  share  in  their  Father  s  grace  and  love. 
Jewish  exclusiveness  has  often  been  set  over  against 
Christian  universality  by  way  of  contrast ;  but  the 
purpose  of  that  exclusiveness  must  be  borne  in 
mind  if  it  is  to  be  understood.  St.  Paul,  who  grew 
up  in  the  midst  of  it  and  knew  it  from  within  and 
at  its  strongest,  thought  of  it  as  the  preparation 
for  the  universality  which  was  to  follow,  and  to 
which  he  was  so  loyal.  The  method  of  seclusion 
was  Divinely  chosen  and  insisted  on  with  a  view  to 
the  grand  result  in  Christ.  The  nation  through 
which  the  whole  world  was  to  be  blessed  could 
only  advance  in  the  knowledge  and  service  of  the 
true  God  by  being  temporarily  secluded  from  all 
other  nations. 

It  is  obvious  now  to  students  of  history  that 
the  defeat  of  the  English  by  the  French  in  the 
days  of  Joan  of  Arc  was  a  conspicuous  blessing 
for  the  Island  Kingdom.  But  for  that  expulsion 
which  drove  her  behind  her  natural  boundary,  the 
sea,  England  would  have  been  part  of  a  great 
continental  power,  and  could  never  have  developed 
her  true  national  life,  nor  would  she  have  become 
the  home  of  freedom  and  the  mother  of  parliaments. 
Isolation   was   necessary    for  ultimate  expansion ; 

14 


The  Era  of  Preparation 

separation  was  the  pathway  to  growth.  And  it 
was  even  so  with  Israel  of  old.  But  for  the  walls 
which  shut  them  in,  the  chosen  people  could  never 
have  done  the  unique  work  to  which  they  were 
called  in  the  election  of  grace ;  nor  could  the 
Branch  which  was  yet  to  flourish  in  every  land 
have  grown  up  within  the  sacred  enclosure  as  He 
did. 

The  reformation  in  Ezra's  time,  for  example, 
deliberately  aimed  at  fostering  that  spirit  of  exclu- 
siveness  which  gave  such  offence  to  the  other 
nations,  and  lent  some  colour  to  the  charge  made 
by  Tacitus  and  others,  that  the  Jews  were  the 
enemies  of  the  human  race,  a  charge  responsible 
for  much  persecution.  Yet  it  has  been  shown  that 
even  then,  and  side  by  side  with  this  separatism,  a 
proselytising  spirit  was  developed ;  and  Josephus 
expressly  states  that  even  Gentiles  who  were  not 
proselytes  might  have  sacrifices  offered  in  the 
Temple.  The  walls  were  built  in  the  interest  of 
those  without  in  the  wilderness,  as  well  as  of  those 
within  in  the  garden  ;  and  they  w^ere  not  only  to  be 
kept  standing  until  the  Messiah  came — they  were 
to  be  kept  standing  in  order  that  He  might  come. 
Jewish  exclusiveness,  in  short,  when  rightly  under- 
stood, was  no  more  contradictory  of  the  ultimate 
spread  of  the  Gospel  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  than 
the  separation  to  which  Christians  are  still  called 

15 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

is  contradictory  of  the  Great  Commission  to  preach 
the  Gospel  in  every  land. 

It  was  inevitable,  perhaps,  that  multitudes  of  the 
Jews  should  forget  that  they  were  not  chosen  for 
their  own  sakes  alone,  and  that  many  should  become 
Separatists  or  Pharisees  in  an  unworthy  sense. 
But  the  choicer  spirits,  who  saw  things  in  the  light 
of  the  eternal,  were  always  aware,  and  aware  most 
of  all  in  the  dark  days  of  captivity  and  declension, 
that  the  enclosure  was  only  temporary,  and  that 
the  walls  were  to  be  thrown  down  whenever  their 
Divine  purpose  had  been  served.  Even  while 
among  those  who  were  nursed  in  religious  pride, 
there  grew  up  a  bitter  hostility  to  the  idea  of  the 
conversion  of  the  heathen,  and  their  participation 
in  the  covenant  mercies  of  Israel,  there  was  always 
something  of  a  Missionary  conscience  among  the 
nobler  Jews.  The  prophets  foresaw  the  day 
when  all  nations  would  be  gathered  into  the  one 
family  of  God,  and  would  enjoy  the  blessings  of  the 
law  which  went  forth  from  Jerusalem. 

The  Book  of  Jonah,  for  example,  exposes  the  folly 
of  the  jealousy  which  some  cherished,  and  shows 
that  God  had  permitted  repentance  even  to  the 
Gentiles ;  while  Isaiah  and  Jeremiah,  who  were 
peculiarly  the  evangelical  prophets,  taught  that  the 
Golden  Age  was  still  to  come,  and  that  when  it 
did  come  the  Gentiles  would   share   in  its   glory 

i6 


The  Era  of  Preparation 

and  righteousness.  Their  great  visions  are  still 
full  of  inspiration  and  hope.  The  earth  is  to  be 
filled  with  the  knowledge  of  God  as  the  waters 
cover  the  sea.  God's  judgments  are  sent  that  the 
nations  may  learn  that  Israel's  God  is  the  God  of 
all  the  earth.  The  moral  beauty  of  Israel's  laws 
and  the  righteousness  of  the  Messianic  King  are  to 
draw  the  eyes  of  the  heathen  to  the  true  God. 
Israel  is  to  be  the  third  with  Egypt  and  Assyria,  a 
blessing  in  the  midst  of  the  land.  The  sons  of  the 
stranger  are  to  be  brought  to  God's  holy  mountain, 
and  made  joyful  in  His  house  of  prayer.  From 
beyond  the  rivers  of  Ethiopia,  Jehovah's  suppliants, 
even  the  daughters  of  the  dispersed,  are  to  bring 
their  offering. 

Much  else  there  was  which  has  already  been 
fulfilled,  along  with  much  also  which  our  eyes  are 
yet  to  behold  of  the  redemption  of  the  whole  earth. 
In  the  last  chapter  of  his  prophecy,  Isaiah  reaches 
the  unique  height — unique,  that  is,  even  for  him 
— that  those  of  the  Gentiles  who  escaped  the 
great  overthrow  would  themselves  carry  the  Gospel 
of  God's  mighty  deeds  to  the  most  distant  heathen 
lauds. 

Even    the   Apocryphal    books   are   not  without 

hints  of  a  purpose  of  grace  for  the  whole  world. 

That   it   is    not    at    all    pronounced    there,    may 

be  due  in  part  to  the  fact  that  these  books  date 

N.E.— 2  17 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

from  a  time  of  Jewish  subjection  to  Gentile  Empires, 
cruel  and  oppressive.  But  it  is  there,  as  for  example 
in  Wisdom  vi.  1-21,  xi.  23-26  ;  Tobit  xiii.  3,  4, 
6,  11 ;  2  Esdras  i.  24,  viii.  6. 

All  through  the  Old  World  the  doctrine  of  tribal 
or  local  deities  prevented  anything  like  Foreign 
Missions  in  our  sense.  Every  god  had  his  own 
domain,  and  ruled  his  own  people  alone.  There 
was  one  deity  for  the  mountains,  and  another  for 
the  plains ;  one  for  Edom,  and  another  for  the 
Philistines ;  and  each  nation  was  content  that  it 
should  be  so.  Converts  in  our  sense  were  not 
sought  for  ;  and  proselytes  were  apt  to  be  looked  on 
as  renegades  as  well  as  turncoats,  disloyal  to  their 
nation  as  well  as  to  their  gods.  Although  the 
Jews  in  this,  as  in  so  much  else,  were  partly  an 
exception  to  the  rule,  they  were  also  influenced  by 
this  conception,  and  tended  to  look  on  Jehovah  as 
a  tribal  deity  like  Chemosh  or  Dagon.  From  the 
earliest  times  they  had  been  taught  that  there  was 
one  only  living  and  true  God,  and  that  all  the 
other  gods  were  idols,  deaf  and  blind  and  dumb. 
But  it  was  long  before  they  realised  all  that  this 
involved ;  and  Jonah  seems  to  have  imagined  that 
he  could  flee  from  Jehovah  to  a  land  where  His 
arm  could  not  reach  him,  very  much  as  fugitives 
from  Britain  used  to  flee  to  Spain  because  no  ex- 
tradition treaty  was  in  operation  there.     Yet  there 

i8 


The  Era  of  Preparation 

was  always  a  note  of  universality  in  the  prophetic 
outlook ;  while  all  through  the  history,  in  such 
events  as  the  call  of  Abraham  and  the  reception  of 
Ruth,  there  were  premonitions  of  the  glad  time  when 
Messiah  would  come  to  take  away  the  sins  of  the 
whole  world.  The  election  of  Israel  was  an  election 
of  grace,  that  through  them  all  men  might  come  to 
know  the  Lord ;  and  their  walling-in  was  a  step 
towards  the  ultimate  conquest  of  the  world  for  God. 

It  is  not  easy  to  reproduce  now  the  tone  of  con- 
tempt, and  even  loathing,  with  which  the  Greeks 
spoke  of  the  barbarians — that  is,  of  all  who  had  not 
the  culture  of  Greece.  As  for  the  Romans,  their 
word  "  hostis,"  which  at  first  had  meant  simply  a 
stranger,  came  to  mean  a  foe,  as  if  the  two  were 
very  much  the  same.  But  all  through  there  had 
been  a  very  different  law  for  the  Hebrews — a  law 
both  beautiful  and  pathetic  :  "  Thou  shalt  not 
oppress  a  stranger ;  for  ye  know  the  heart  of  a 
stranger,  seeing  ye  were  strangers  in  the  land  of 
Egypt."  And  so  Christ  still  says  to  believers:  "Ye 
know  the  heart  of  those  who  are  still  in  the  dark- 
ness, seeing  ye  were  once  in  the  darkness  your- 
selves "  ;  and  the  walls  which  shut  Israel  in  were 
never  so  high  that  eyes  with  the  love-light  in  them 
could  not  see  over  them. 

In  some  respects  these  Old  Testament  premoni- 
tions of  the  better  time  which  was  coming,  of  the 

19 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

Golden  Age  which  did  not  lie  away  back  in  Eden 
but  was  to  come  in  Christ,  reach  their  high-water 
mark  in  Jeremiah's  wonderful  prophecy  of  the  New 
Covenant.  Although  that  was  written  in  prison,  and 
in  the  midst  of  the  siege  which  was  to  complete  the 
Captivity,  the  great  word  looks  out  over  the  evil 
present  with  a  truly  Christian  optimism,  and  tells 
of  a  covenant  which  was  to  be  universal,  because  it 
was  to  be  spiritual,  and  of  a  glad  time  when  all 
shall  know  the  Lord,  from  the  least  even  to  the 
greatest. 

What  this  meant  was  made  explicit  only  when 
Christ  Himself  came  and  sealed  this  New  Covenant 
with  His  blood,  which  was  shed  for  many  for  the 
remission  of  sins.  And  for  long  the  full  perception 
of  the  truth  that  the  Gentiles  could  enter  into 
full  participation  in  the  blessings  of  salvation 
otherwise  than  through  the  portals  of  Judaism,  was 
only  for  those  who  were  caught  up  into  the  third 
heaven  and  saw  the  unspeakable  sights.  It  broke 
slowly  even  on  the  Apostles,  with  all  their  training 
while  Jesus  was  with  them  and  through  the  Holy 
Ghost  Who  came  at  Pentecost.  It  only  became 
explicit,  indeed,  in  the  supremely  Missionary 
ministry  of  St.  Paul.  There  is  no  indication,  for 
example,  that  even  Isaiah,  who  delighted  in  the 
Mission  of  Israel  to  be  the  light  of  the  Gentiles, 
ever  regarded  conformity  to    Israel's  laws  as  un- 

20 


The  Era  of  Preparation 

necessary  on  their  part.  Salvation  then  meant 
absorption  in  Israel.  Not  that  we  are  warranted 
in  holding  that  Isaiah  would  have  held  that  con- 
formity involved  what  the  enemies  of  St.  Paul  said 
it  must  involve.  They  held  that  in  order  to  be- 
come Christians  the  heathen  must  also  become  Jews. 

There  is  indeed  a  very  real  sense  in  which  the 
heathen  must  still  conform  to  the  laws  of  Israel  if 
they  are  to  enter  the  Kingdom,  as  St.  Paul  was  the 
foremost  to  assert.  The  Christian  is  not  under  law 
but  under  grace,  w^hether  he  be  Jew  or  Gentile  to 
begin  with ;  but  the  moral  law  of  Moses  comes 
with  a  new  imperative,  and  with  the  most  sacred 
sanctions,  to  those  who  are  now  the  children  of 
God  and  under  the  perfect  law  of  liberty.  It  is 
no  more  than  the  truth  to  say  that  for  the  heathen 
salvation  still  means  absorption  in  the  Israel  of 
Abraham  and  Isaiah,  of  Jeremiah  and  Zephaniah. 
For  that  true  and  spiritual  Israel  the  ritual  law 
was  never  more  than  a  temporary  expedient  which 
has  long  since  served  its  day. 

This  is  not  the  place  to  discuss  at  length  why 
the  Covenant  of  Grace  was  made  with  Israel  and 
not  with  another  race.  It  may  be,  indeed,  that  the 
Semitic  peoples  are  distinguished  above  all  others 
by  what  has  been  called  a  capacity  for  religion, 
and  that  they  were  specially  marked  out  as  fitted 
to  be  the  depositaries  of  revelation.     They  are  also 

21 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

without  special  capacity  for  speculative  thought. 
The  revelation  committed  to  Israel  retained  its 
practical  simplicity,  and  remained  a  religion  without 
becoming  either  a  philosophy  or  a  theology  ;  which 
could  not  have  been  had  it  been  entrusted  to  such 
a  people  as  the  Greeks.  But  for  Israel  herself  it 
was  enough  that  God  had  chosen  her  to  be  the 
medium  of  His  choice  of  others  and  of  His  grace 
to  others.  That  must  meanwhile  be  enough 
for  us  too.  The  whole  history  of  Israel  was  her 
preparation  for  the  work  of  world  evangelisation, 
which  was  to  begin  when  the  Dayspring  from 
on  high  arose  to  give  light  to  them  who  sit  in 
darkness  and  in  the  shadow  of  death. 

Yet  in  some  respects  the  universality  which 
underlay  the  Old  Testament  was  less  in  evidence 
when  Jesus  came  than  it  had  been  at  many  an  earlier 
epoch.  The  exclusiveness  of  the  Jews  culminated 
in  the  post-Exilian  period,  when,  in  default  of  the 
political  influence  they  had  lost,  the  Jews  became 
more  resolute  in  their  devotion  to  the  worship  of 
Jehovah,  and  surrounded  their  faith  and  worship 
alike  with  an  elaborate  system  of  ritual.  The 
nearer  heathenism  came  to  them  as  a  nation,  and 
the  more  vigorously  it  penetrated  into  Palestine, 
the  more  did  those  who  were  loyal  to  Jehovah  feel 
called  on  to  oppose  it  fiercely.  The  position  of 
the  pious  Israelite  was  indeed  difHcult  in  those  days 

22 


The  Era  of  Preparation 

of  Roman  occupation  and  of  the  inroads  of  Greek 
culture.  On  the  one  hand,  there  was  daily  contact 
with  the  claims  and  menace  of  heathenism  ;  while 
on  the  other  hand,  the  zeal  of  the  scribes  was 
constantly  increasing  the  number  of  ways  in  which 
such  contact  might  bring  defilement  none  the 
less  real  that  it  was  only  ceremonial.  Never  had 
the  walls  of  partition  risen  so  high  as  when  Christ 
came  ;  nor  had  Jewish  exclusiveness  ever  gathered 
round  it  heroism  more  splendid  than  in  the  days  of 
the  Maccabees,  that  Indian  summer  of  the  old  era. 
Yet,  in  spite  of  all  these  adverse  and  alien  in- 
fluences which  were  at  work,  when  the  fulness  of 
time  came,  there  was  a  sacred  plantation  of  the  true 
Israel  which  was  indeed  the  garden  of  the  Lord  for 
the  reception  of  the  seed  of  salvation.  The  story 
of  Simeon  and  of  Anna,  the  reference  in  the  sacred 
record  to  those  in  Jerusalem  "  that  looked  for 
redemption,"  combined  with  the  welcome  which 
the  common  people  gave  to  our  Lord,  all  indicate 
that  when  in  due  time  Christ  died  for  the  ungodly, 
there  were  many  eyes  with  the  far-off  look  in  them 
which  told  that  they  saw  Him  Who  is  invisible,  and 
had  never  altoo-ether  lost  sioht  of  the  Divine 
purpose  of  their  seclusion  as  a  nation.  Then  at 
last  the  walls  were  thrown  down,  and  the  great 
deeps  of  the  Divine  love  and  pity  were  disclosed  to 
Gentile  and  Jew  alike. 

23 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

The  God  of  salvation  had  already  looked  down 
in  compassion  on  His  people ;  but  now  He  came 
down  among  them,  and  Christ  took  up  and  com- 
pleted the  work  which  had  been  begun.  The 
principles  of  universality  and  spirituality  which 
had  been  so  long  shadowed  forth,  and  had  so 
often  been  obscured,  were  now  made  explicit  in  His 
doctrine  that  the  Kingdom  of  God  is  a  Kingdom 
of  righteousness  and  love  ;  and  in  His  doctrine  that 
God  is  a  Spirit  Who  is  to  be  worshipped  in  spirit 
and  in  truth,  and  is  the  Father  of  the  souls  of  men, 
welcoming  the  returning  penitent  on  the  sole  con- 
dition that  he  repents  and  has  faith.  He  taught 
men  that  God  is  the  Father  of  all,  and  that  the 
terms  of  acceptance  with  Him  are  such  as  all  men 
can  and  ought  to  fulfil. 

But  this  era  of  preparation  takes  us  far  beyond 
the  narrow  confines  of  the  Holy  Land.  Negatively 
and  positively  alike,  the  whole  world-history  had 
been  a  preparation  for  Christ.  For  one  thing,  this 
came  out  in  the  strange  eclecticism,  the  pathetic 
expectancy,  which  was  manifesting  itself  in  so 
many  ways  when  Christ  came  to  die  for  those  who 
were  finding  out  that  they  were  without  strength. 
The  utter  failure  even  of  the  best  that  had  survived 
from  the  religions  and  philosophies  of  the  Old 
World  to  satisfy  the  yearnings  of  those  who  had 
been  made  for  God   and  could  only  find   rest  in 

24 


The  Era  of  Preparation 

Him,  rendered  many  unexpectedly  amenable  and 
receptive.  Even  in  the  heathen  world  there  was 
something  akin  to  the  spirit  which  had  led  Simeon 
and  Anna  to  wait  for  the  redemption  of  Israel. 
For  ages  the  best  and  the  worst  alike  had  been 
experimenting ;  their  experiments  one  and  all 
had  ended  in  disaster  and  death. 

The  history  of  the  philosophy  of  Greece,  of  the 
law  system  of  Rome,  and  in  some  respects  even 
of  the  religion  of  the  Jews,  had  made  it  obvious 
that  unless  God  in  His  mercy  came  to  the  rescue, 
hope  must  utterly  disappear  from  the  earth.  That 
very  discovery,  however,  was  one  of  the  proofs  that 
God  had  come  to  the  rescue  and  had  been  preparing 
mankind  for  the  great  Rescuer,  even  Christ.  Nor 
can  we  ignore  the  work  of  preparation  which  was 
done  by  the  Roman  Empire,  that  triumph  of 
organisation  and  rule.  Renan  doubtless  exag- 
gerated when  he  said  that  if  Alexander  and  Caesar 
had  not  preceded,  Christ  had  not  followed ;  but 
that  was  the  exaggeration  of  a  sublime  truth.  By 
welding  the  nations  into  one  political  state,  by 
making  Latin  and  Greek  known  everywhere, 
and  by  its  splendid  laws  and  administration, 
the  Empire  did  much  to  open  up  a  way  for  the 
first  preachers  of  Christ  and  salvation  to  the 
heathen.  Our  God  is  a  sovereign  Lord,  Who 
still   lays   claim    to   wireless    telegraphy    and    all 

25 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

the  wonders  of  modern  science  for  the  work  of 
evangelisation. 

The  Empire  did  much  also  for  the  work  of  ex- 
pansion by  the  universal  peace  it  secured  among 
all  the  civilised  peoples,  and  Ly  its  splendid  means 
of  communication  which  did  so  much  for  the  first 
Missionaries  of  the  Cross.  The  means  for  travel 
were  better  in  the  days  of  Paul  and  John  than  at 
any  subsequent  period  right  up  to  the  time  when 
the  inventions  of  our  own  era  began  to  change  the 
face  of  the  earth. 

There  was  yet  another  way  in  which  the  work  of 
preparation  was  being  done,  and  in  that  the  Empire 
and  the  Jews  may  be  said  to  have  joined  hands  in 
claiming  all  the  world  for  Christ.  This  was  the 
extraordinary  dispersion  of  the  Jews,  which  familiar- 
ised the  Gentiles  with  the  thought  of  monotheism 
and  a  spiritual  religion.  It  is  not  easy  now  to 
realise  how  great  was  the  educative  work  done  by 
those  Jews  of  the  Diaspora.  The  Hellenist  Jews, 
the  Grecians  or  Greek-speaking  Jews  of  the  Acts 
of  the  Apostles,  far  outnumbered  the  Jews  of  the 
Fatherland,  and  were  to  be  found  not  only  all  over 
the  Empire,  but  far  beyond  it.  There  were,  for 
example,  many  of  them  in  Parthia,  which  still 
maintained  its  independence,  and  must  therefore 
have  had  attractions  for  the  Jews,  who  hated  Kome 
as  the  tyrant  in  the  homeland.     One  captivity  after 

26 


The  Era  of  Preparation 

another  had  carried  Jews  into  foreign  lands,  and, 
as  their  wont  was,  they  had  thriven  in  their  exile. 
Besides  these,  many  had  gone  voluntarily  from 
their  homes  in  Judea  and  Galilee  to  the  centres 
where  their  compatriots  weve  already  settled,  in 
search  of  employment  and  a  wider  sphere  of  activity 
than  Palestine  in  its  degradation  afforded  for  those 
who  were  able  and  ambitious. 

How  enormous  the  numbers  of  the  Dispersed 
were  may  be  gathered  from  the  fact  that  a  census 
taken  in  the  reign  of  Nero  showed  that  more 
than  2,700,000  of  them  were  at  Jerusalem  for  a 
Passover  feast ;  and  it  is  said  that  even  more  were 
able  to  be  present  at  the  Feast  of  Pentecost.  There 
were  multitudes  of  Jews  in  Egypt,  where  Alexandria 
was  their  headquarters,  as  well  as  in  Arabia,  Cilicia, 
and  Cyrene.  As  for  Rome,  the  extent  of  the 
Jewish  colony  there  may  be  estimated  from  the 
fact  that  in  the  reign  of  Claudius  as  many  as 
4000  Jewish  freedmen  were  banished  at  one  time 
from  the  Imperial  city  to  Sardinia.  And  many 
representatives  of  these  foreign  Jews,  who,  as  is  so 
often  the  case,  were  more  Jewish  in  their  sympathies 
and  their  allegiance  to  the  old  ways  than  the  Jews 
in  the  homeland,  hiherniores  hihernicis  ipsis, 
were  won  for  Christ  on  the  ever-memorable  Day 
of  Pentecost,  when  the  Holy  Spirit  came  on  the 
waiting  Church.     Their  return  to  their  homes  all 

2; 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

through  the  Empire  and  beyond  must  have  done 
much  to  prepare  for  the  preachers  who  were  ere 
long  to  follow. 

Then  further,  when  the  evangelists  who  were 
scattered  abroad  after  Stephen's  death  went  out  on 
their  Mission,  we  are  specifically  told  that  they 
went  to  these  Jews  of  the  Dispersion.  So  also 
when  Paul  was  at  his  Missionary  work,  although 
he  was  the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles  and  had  them 
allotted  to  him  as  his  special  sphere,  just  as  Peter 
was  pre-eminently  the  Apostle  of  the  Diaspora, 
we  find  that  he  always  went  first  to  the  Jewish 
headquarters  in  a  town,  and  began  by  preaching 
in  the  synagogues  of  his  fellow-countrymen.  Nor 
should  it  ever  be  forgotten  that  although  many  of 
these  scattered  Jews  were  fanatically  and  even 
malignantly  hostile,  many  of  them  were  also 
pioneers  of  the  faith,  noble  Missionaries  of  the 
Cross,  and  that  even  from  among  the  Pharisees 
and  the  Sadducean  priests,  so  alien  to  begin  with, 
there  were  not  a  few  who  believed  and  gave  heroic 
proofs  of  their  loyalty  to  their  faith  and  their 
Lord. 

This,  then,  was  the  world,  so  marvellously 
prepared  for  Him,  into  which  Christ  came  in  the 
fulness  of  time.  And  most  of  all,  then  as  now, 
men  were  prepared  for  Him  by  their  utter  need. 
The  world  was  very  weary  and  sated  as  it  cried 

28 


The  Era  of  Preparation 

out  in  its  dumb  strivings,  "  Who  will  show  us 
any  good  ? "  In  the  great  mercy  of  our  God,  the 
answer  came  in  Christ.  Little  real  belief  in  the 
old  systems  was  left,  and  the  truth  of  the  terrible 
picture  in  the  first  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
Eomans,  as  to  the  state  of  morality,  is  borne  out 
in  endless  ways.  Nor  was  philosophy  one  whit 
more  influential  than  religion  so  far  as  stemming 
the  evil  tide  was  concerned.  It  was  into  a  world 
corrupt  to  the  core,  and  hopeless  in  its  unbelief, 
that  the  light  of  the  Gospel  first  shone,  and  the 
era  of  preparation  came  to  an  end  in  the  ever- 
blessed  era  of  evangelisation. 


29 


CHAPTER   II 

THE  APOSTOLIC   ERA 


31 


"Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every 
creature." — Mark  16.  15, 

"  This  is  a  fallen  world,  but  it  is  a  redeemed  world." 

"  Our  dear  Lord's  best  interpreters  are  faithful  human  souls, 
The  gospel  of  a  life  like  theirs  is  more  than  creeds  or  scrolls." 

"  It  was  reserved  for  Christianity  to  present  to  the  world  an 
ideal  character,  which  through  all  the  changes  of  eighteen  centuries 
has  filled  the  hearts  of  men  with  an  impassioned  love,  and  has 
shown  itself  capable  of  acting  on  all  ages,  nations,  temperaments, 
conditions  ;  has  not  only  been  the  highest  pattern  of  virtue  but  the 
highest  incentive  to  its  practice." — Lecky. 


32 


CHAPTER   II 

THE   APOSTOLIC   ERA 

rpHIS  wonderful  period  of  expansion,  the  new 
-L  era  even  more  than  our  own,  may  be  taken 
as  extending  from  the  Ascension  of  our  Lord  till 
the  end  of  the  first  century,  when  the  long  life  of 
St.  John  w^as  either  just  coming  to  an  end  or  had 
not  long  ended.  For  our  purpose,  however,  it 
may  more  conveniently  be  taken  as  extending 
from  Pentecost  to  the  year  112  or  thereby,  when 
Pliny  sent  his  famous  letter  to  the  Emperor  Trajan. 
Pliny  was  one  of  the  most  accomplished  men  of  his 
time ;  and  this  official  document  throws  welcome 
light  on  the  situation  when  the  Church  was 
entering  on  the  work  of  the  second  century, 
and  had  no  longer  the  guidance  and  help  of 
the  inspired  Apostles  who  had  seen  the  Lord. 
His  testimony,  too,  as  to  the  extent  to  which 
the  Gospel  had  spread  in  Asia  Minor,  and  as  to 
how  the  life  of  the  Christians  had  impressed  an 
impartial  outsider,  is  of  unique  value  as  showing 
N-E.-3  33 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

what  had  been  achieved  in  the  era  which  had  just 
closed. 

In  the  days  of  His  flesh,  our  Lord  Himself  never 
left  the  Holy  Land,  except  perhaps  when  He  went 
into  the  coasts  of  Tyre  and  Sidon.  But  He  laid 
deep  and  broad  the  foundations  on  which  His 
people  were  to  build  in  the  days  to  come ;  He 
began  that  work  of  the  Kingdom  which  cannot 
but  be  universal,  since  it  is  spiritual ;  and  already 
in  vision  He  saw  the  peoples  of  the  East  and  the 
West,  of  the  North  and  the  South,  rallying  round 
His  Cross.  His  instructions  regarding  Missionary 
work  are  more  definite  than  those  about  any  other 
form  of  service.  Time  after  time  He  gave  orders 
that  such  work  was  to  be  done,  from  the  day  when 
He  called  the  fishermen  by  the  Sea  of  Galilee  to 
be  fishers  of  men,  till  the  day  when  as  the  Risen 
Lord  He  commissioned  His  Apostles  to  make 
disciples  of  all  nations.  The  very  name  Apostle 
indicates  that  those  who  bore  it  were  to  be 
messengers  or  Missionaries,  first  to  the  lost  sons 
of  their  own  house,  then  to  the  cities  of  the 
Samaritans,  and  then  on  the  highways  of  world- 
traffic,  which  led  to  the  most  distant  heathen 
nations. 

To  carry  the  Gospel  to  the  Gentiles  was  a  work 
so  novel  and  so  difficult  that  commands  and  en- 
couragements alike  were  multiplied  in  order  that 

34 


The  Apostolic   Era 

it  might  be  done.  The  earlier  orders  to  go  to 
their  own  countrymen  had  been  only  temporary ; 
but  when  the  standing  orders  to  go  out  among 
the  heathen  came,  they  only  made  explicit  what 
had  really  been  implicit  from  the  first.  His 
followers  were  called  to  be  "  the  salt  of  the  earth  " 
and  "  the  light  of  the  world."  His  great  parting 
Commission  has  indeed  been  pronounced  to  be  the 
product  of  a  later  age ;  but  there  are  no  good 
grounds,  either  critical  or  other,  for  doubting  that 
we  have  here  Christ's  own  words.  The  Trinitarian 
formula  is  "  foreign  to  the  mouth  of  Jesus  only  in 
the  sense  that  any  saying  uttered  for  the  first  time 
by  any  man  is  foreign  to  his  lips." 

The  Descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost  at  Pentecost 
vividly  illustrated  both  what  the  Great  Commission 
meant  and  how  it  was  to  be  obeyed ;  for  then  as 
now  the  supreme  question  was  one  of  power. 
Yet  even  the  Apostles  were  slow  to  lift  their 
anchors  and  adventure  out  on  the  deep.  One 
object-lesson  after  another  was  required  for  the 
interpretation  of  what  seems  clear  enough  now  in 
the  light  of  its  exposition  in  history.  Indeed, 
persecution  had  to  come  before  they  went  every- 
where preaching  the  Word.  But  when  once  this 
violent  dispersion  had  released  the  slumbering 
powers  of  expansion,  every  man  and  woman  of  the 
dispersed  became  a  Missionary.     After  Stephen's 

35 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

death,  for  example,  they  went  as  far  as  Phenice, 
Cyprus,  and  Antioch  which  ere  long  became  a 
second  Christian  metropolis.  Perhaps  some  went 
as  far  as  Rome,  for  Andronicus  and  Junia,  who  are 
mentioned  in  the  Epistle  to  that  church,  were 
disciples  before  Paul.  Indeed,  one  of  the  striking 
features  of  the  expansion  is  that  often  the  decisive 
steps  seem  to  have  been  taken  by  nameless 
evangelists,  who  did  not  keep  silence  about  the 
new  faith  for  which  they  were  wanderers  and 
exiles.  The  whole  theory  of  Apostolic  Missions  is 
summed  up  in  the  words  of  St.  Peter  :  "  We  cannot 
but  speak  the  things  which  we  have  seen  and  heard." 
Their  message  grew  out  of  their  own  personal 
experience,  and  was  attested  by  it. 

The  first  decisive  indication  of  God's  purpose 
regarding  the  regions  beyond  came  to  the  Church 
through  a  revival  which  broke  out  among  the 
Samaritans ;  for  then,  as  always,  the  Divine  mes- 
sage came  most  clearly  in  actual  events.  These 
Samaritans,  who  were  half-heathen  by  descent, 
professed  a  corrupt  form  of  Judaism,  and  Philip 
the  Evangelist  was  honoured  to  be  the  preacher 
under  whom  many  of  them  turned  to  Christ. 
Our  Lord  Himself  had,  of  course,  done  tender, 
gracious  things  among  them  during  His  earthly 
ministry ;  yet  that  revival  came  as  a  revelation, 
we  might  almost  say  as  a  surprise,  to  the  Apostles 

36 


The  Apostolic  Era 

at  Jerusalem.  They  were,  however,  ready  to 
follow  wherever  the  Spirit  led,  and  were  prepared 
to  be  surprised.  They  saw  the  Gospel  passing 
beyond  the  confines  of  the  Jews,  and  they  knew 
by  the  fruits  of  Philip's  preaching  that  he  had 
done  right  in  going  among  the  Samaritans. 
They  knew  it  then  just  as  in  later  years 
Bunyan  knew  that  God  had  opened  his  lips,  and 
Wesley  knew  that  it  was  right  to  preach  in  the 
open  air,  by  the  blessing  which  God  gave  them. 
Then  the  wholly  Gentile  Cornelius  followed  the 
half-Gentile  Samaritan  into  the  fold  of  Christ, 
and  his  conversion  ranks  with  that  of  St.  Paul 
himself  as  a  great  landmark  in  the  history  of 
Missions. 

The  extent  to  which  it  was  epoch-making  can 
be  estimated  in  part  by  the  space  given  to  the 
details  of  the  story  by  the  sacred  writer,  as  well  as 
by  the  way  in  which  St.  Peter  had  to  vindicate  his 
action  in  baptizing  a  man  who  had  never  been 
circumcised.  For  part  of  the  significance  of  what 
happened  lies  in  the  fact  that  Cornelius  became  a 
Christian  without  also  or  first  becoming  a  Jew. 
The  conclusion  to  which  the  authorities  at 
Jerusalem  were  led  by  the  blessed  logic  of  events 
marks  the  beginning  of  the  Foreign  Mission  era : 
"  Then  hath  God  also  to  the  Gentiles  granted 
repentance   unto    life."     They   realised  what  God 

Z7 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

was  saying  to  tliem  in  the  concrete  events  through 
which  He  rendered  His  purpose  of  grace  visible  to 
those  who  had  eyes  to  see,  and  they  gladly  followed 
on  to  know  the  Lord. 

And  it  was  well  that  they  were  thus  prepared 
for  the  next  emergency,  which  was  near  at  hand. 
For  meanwhile,  some  of  the  scattered  preachers, 
pressing  on  in  the  pathway  which  the  Holy  Spirit 
was  opening  up  for  them,  were  boldly  preaching 
the  Gospel  to  the  Gentiles  in  Antioch,  and  there 
also  the  blessed  fruits  of  their  daring  were  showing 
that  they  were  doing  the  will  of  God.  We  cannot 
tell  whether  these  preachers  had  heard  of  the  con- 
version of  Cornelius ;  but  that  precedent  enabled 
the  Jerusalem  church  to  deal  with  the  new  situation 
in  the  right  way.  God  had  graciously  prepared 
His  people  to  meet  the  emergency.  Barnabas  was 
sent  down  to  see  what  God  was  doing,  and  to  give 
guidance  in  the  crisis.  With  a  prescience  equally 
Divine,  St.  Paul  was  brought  in  to  be  his  colleague 
in  the  work  which  grew  out  of  the  Antioch  revival, 
and  then  the  work  of  winning  the  Gentiles  for  Christ 
was  begun  in  earnest,  and  the  great  Apostle  of  the 
Gentile  world  was  at  his  God-assigned  post. 

From  the  time  of  Pentecost  onwards  it  was 
clearly  indicated  that  in  this  work  of  expansion  the 
Holy  Ghost  is  the  great  propagating  power.  Ours 
is  a  Missionary  era  because  it  is  the  era  or  dispensa- 

38 


The  Apostolic  Era 

tion  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  It  was  He  who  inspired 
the  first  Missionaries,  such  as  Peter  and  Stejihen, 
Barnabas  and  Paul,  for  the  work  of  winning  man- 
kind for  Christ — "  Separate  Me  Barnabas  and  Saul 
for  the  work  whereunto  I  have  called  them  "  ;  and 
we  shall  only  understand  the  secret  of  their 
triumphs,  or  see  them  repeated  in  our  day,  when 
we  too  are  wholly  loyal  to  the  ever-blessed  Third 
Person  in  the  glorious  Trinity,  and  are  obedient 
unto  Him. 

From  the  first,  too,  these  Missionaries  of  the 
Cross  found  that  they  were  called  to  conflict ;  and 
that  in  their  onset  for  God  and  His  truth  they  were 
in  direst  opposition  to  the  dominant  world-powers, 
political  and  ecclesiastical  alike.  Christianity  had 
scarcely  emerged  from  Palestine  when  she  found 
herself  engaged  in  a  life-and-death  struggle  with 
the  whole  strength  of  Imperial  Rome.  The 
Romans,  who  had  a  genius  for  government  as  well 
as  for  conquest,  were  accustomed  to  tolerate  all 
religions  if  only  these  were  old  and  national  and 
had  no  secret  gatherings  which  might  cover  con- 
spiracies against  the  State.  But  from  the  first 
they  were  at  least  doubtful  about  Christianity, 
which  was  neither  national  nor  ancient,  and  which 
had  a  worship  they  could  not  understand. 

Even  their  wisest  statesmen  seem  to  have  felt 
an  instinctive  dread  of  this  new  religion,  which  had 

39 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

neither  temples  nor  idols,  and  which  rose  superior 
to  every  local  or  racial  limitation,  claiming  the 
whole  earth  for  its  Lord.  They  felt  somehow  that 
Christianity  and  Kome  were  alike  imperial  in  their 
aspirations  and  outlook,  and  that  war  between  them 
was  inevitable.  Either  the  one  or  the  other  must 
conquer.  There  was  no  room  in  the  Empire,  vast 
as  it  was,  for  both ;  and  the  prevalence  of  this 
conviction  among  the  best  of  the  Romans  gives 
us  some  idea  of  the  courage  and  consistency  wdth 
which  the  early  Christians  did  their  work. 

There  was  room  in  the  Pantheon  for  all  sorts 
of  tribal  deities.  The  presence  of  their  idols  there 
only  made  the  glory  of  Rome  seem  all  the  greater, 
and  increased  the  triumphs  of  her  returning 
soldiers.  But  there  was  no  room  either  in  the 
Pantheon  or  the  Empire  for  this  new  religion, 
which  was  sometimes  called  "  atheistic "  because 
it  lacked  the  ordinary  external  symbols,  but  which 
had  gone  out  conquering  and  to  conquer,  measuring 
its  might  with  that  of  Imperial  Rome  herself. 
When  Christianity,  with  a  sublime  audacity, 
assailed  the  Empire  which  in  itself  had  almost 
become  a  religion,  with  the  Emperor  as  its  concrete 
and  deified  embodiment,  the  onset  was  made  on  no 
ignorant  or  degraded  system,  but  on  a  vast  organ- 
isation, hoary  with  antiquity  and  flushed  with 
success  over  every  foe. 

40 


The  Apostolic  Era 

In  many  ways,  indeed,  the  work  of  the  first 
evangelists  was  not  unlike  that  which  our  own 
Missionaries  have  to  do  now  among  the  educated 
and  self  -  satisfied  Hindus  and  Mohammedans. 
This  explains  the  paradox  that  some  of  the 
best  emperors  and  noblest  Romans,  from  the 
view-point  of  the  Empire,  were  the  most  strenuous 
foes  and  persecutors  of  the  Gospel.  They  saw,  as 
St.  Paul  did  in  his  unconverted  days,  that  there 
could  be  no  half-measures  where  Christianity  was 
involved.  They  felt  that  they  must  either  yield 
to  its  claims  or  set  themselves  to  crush  it  out.  Thus 
it  was  that  it  was  into  a  world  at  once  strangely 
prepared  for  them,  and  yet  bitterly  antagonistic 
to  them,  that  the  first  Missionaries  went  with  their 
story  of  salvation  for  the  worst,  on  terms  of  free 
grace. 

It  is  very  remarkable  how  little  we  know  about 
these  first  evangelists  themselves,  although  many 
things  have  come  to  light  even  in  our  own  time 
to  show  how  devoted  and  fruitful  their  work  was. 
Some  of  them  we  know  by  name — men  like  Timothy 
and  Titus,  Barnabas  and  Mark,  Epaphroditus  and 
Apollos — and  that  is  all  we  know  even  of  the 
majority  of  the  Apostles.  We  know  a  little  about 
Paul,  a  little  less  about  Peter  and  John,  and  that 
is  practically  the  whole.  There  were  no  religious 
newspapers   in    those    days,    nor   any   Missionary 

41 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

reports ;  but  their  names  are  in  the  Lamb's  Book 
of  Life,  and  they  live  in  their  work,  which  is  ever 
so  much  better  than  living  merely  in  the  pages  of 
history.  Through  the  mists  of  envious  oblivion, 
broken  here  and  there  by  shafts  of  light,  we  can 
see  brave  soldiers  of  the  Cross,  as  they  faced  every 
danger  in  their  devotion  to  their  Saviour  and  their 
compassion  for  the  souls  of  men,  and  pressed  out 
into  the  deeper  darkness  beyond  the  boundaries 
of  the  Empire  as  even  the  dauntless  soldiers  of 
Rome  did  not  dare  to  do.  Within  the  first 
Christian  century  they  had  penetrated  the  wilds 
of  distant  Scythia  and  Caledonia,  perhaps  even 
so  far  as  India ;  dying  for  their  faith  if  need  be, 
bringing  hope  to  many  a  despairing  soul  and 
kindling  the  love-light  in  many  a  sorrowful  eye. 
In  the  absence  of  any  reliable  information, 
tradition  has  been  busy  with  many  of  these  un- 
known workers  and  their  work.  But  its  only  value 
is  that  it  embodies  the  general  impression  of  the 
striking  results  of  their  undoubted  enterprise. 
Andrew  is  represented  as  preaching  in  Scythia, 
Thomas  in  Parthia,  Matthew  in  Arabia.  Matthias 
is  said  to  have  devoted  himself  to  Ethiopia  ;  James 
the  son  of  Alphseus  to  Egypt ;  Simon  Zelotes  to 
Mauritania  and  Libya ;  and  Judas  Thaddeus  to 
Mesopotamia.  The  Spaniards  claim  James  the 
brother  of  our  Lord  as  their  national  evangelist ; 

42 


The  Apostolic  Era 

the  French  say  that  the  Gospel  came  to  their  land 
through  Dionysius  the  Areopagite  and  Lazarus ; 
while  as  regards  Britain,  it  is  claimed  that  Simon 
Zelotes,  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  and  even  Paul, 
preached  the  Gospel  there.  But  all  this  is  little 
more  than  a  determination  to  apportion  territories 
to  the  men  whose  names  have  come  down  to  us. 

It  is  very  striking  how  little  is  known  even  of 
John  and  Peter,  the  pillar  Apostles.  They  are 
prominent  in  the  early  chapters  of  the  Acts,  where 
they  are  closely  associated  with  each  other ;  but 
after  that  we  are  left  largely  to  conjecture  as  to 
what  they  did  and  where  they  did  it.  St.  John's 
later  doings  mostly  gather  round  Ephesus,  where 
he  seems  to  have  lived  almost,  if  not  quite,  to  the 
end  of  the  first  century,  and  to  have  perished  by 
martyrdom  in  the  persecution  under  Domitian. 
He  has  left  us  three  Letters ;  the  Gospel  which 
bears  his  name ;  and  the  Book  of  the  Apocalypse, 
or  unfolding. 

As  for  St.  Peter,  his  name  became  associated, 
probably  against  his  will,  with  the  Judaising  party, 
who  in  their  opposition  to  Paul  declared,  "  We  are 
of  Cephas."  There  has  been  much  discussion  as 
to  whether  he  was  ever  in  Rome.  There  can  be 
none  as  to  the  fact  that  he  was  not  the  founder 
of  the  church  at  Rome,  as  Romanists  allege.  Many 
modern  scholars  accept  the  tradition  of  a  visit  to 

43 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

the  seven -hilled  city  ;  and  by  the  end  of  the  second 
century  the  conviction  prevailed  that  he  was 
martyred  there.  But  there  is  no  proof  whatever 
of  this  in  the  "dry  light,"  and  there  is  much  to 
support  the  contention  that  he  had  no  association 
whatever  with  the  Roman  church.  His  Epistles 
seem  to  connect  him  very  specially  with  the  four 
Roman  provinces  which  we  now  call  Asia  Minor ; 
and  we  must  think  of  him  as  for  the  most  part  in 
that  region,  and  specially  as  labouring  among  his 
fellow-countrymen  according  to  the  concordat  with 
Paul,  until  he  too  won  the  martyr's  crown. 

The  conversion  of  St.  Paul,  about  the  year  35, 
was  of  infinite  significance  for  the  work  among  the 
heathen  ;  and  it  is  his  Missionary  energy  which 
most  of  all  fills  the  New  Testament.  We  have 
some  details  as  to  his  three  great  Missionary 
journeys ;  and  what  with  references  and  allusions 
in  his  Letters  and  what  we  learn  from  the  Acts,  we 
can  draw  at  least  a  profile  picture  of  the  man, 
unquestionably  one  of  the  supreme  leaders  of  our 
race.  His  first  journey  began  at  Cyprus  and  ended 
at  Antioch,  and  saw  many  converts  won  and  not  a 
few  churches  organised.  The  second  journey  began 
in  the  year  52  and  took  him  into  Europe,  where 
he  founded  a  church  at  Philippi  and  spent  two 
years  and  a  half  in  Corinth.  The  third  journey, 
which  brings  us  down  to   the  year  55,  took  him 

44 


The  Apostolic  Era 

from  Antioch  through  Asia  Minor  to  Ephesus, 
where  he  remained  more  or  less  constantly  for 
upwards  of  two  years.  Thereafter  we  find  him  in 
Jerusalem,  where  he  was  apprehended  and  finally 
sent  to  Rome,  which  he  had  long  desired  to  visit. 
After  two  imprisonments  there,  and  much  literary 
and  other  work,  he  died  for  the  faith  for  which  he 
had  lived  splendidly  so  long,  in  the  year  67  or  68. 
He  was  the  greatest  Missionary  who  has  ever  lived, 
perhaps  the  greatest  servant  our  Lord  has  ever  had. 
We  can  only  find  out  indirectly  how  these 
Apostolic  Missionaries  did  their  work,  and  what 
was  the  outcome  of  their  obedience  and  consecra- 
tion. But  this  indirect  evidence  is  continually 
increasing  in  interest  and  value.  The  ends  of 
the  earth  are  now  coming  on  us,  and  new  light 
is  constantly  being  thrown  on  the  rapid  and 
inevitable  spread  of  the  Christian  religion.  Take, 
for  example,  what  we  now  know  of  the  difi'erent 
ways  in  which  the  various  churches  were  founded 
and  grew  up — such  as  those  in  Rome  and  Galatia. 
The  Roman  church  was  not  founded  by  an 
Apostle,  and  no  great  name  is  associated  with  its 
origin.  Some  have  attributed  its  beginnings  to 
preachers  who  came  from  Pentecost  filled  with 
the  Good  News.  Probably,  however,  its  existence 
was  due  rather  to  unknown  emigrants,  and  to  the 
constant  communication  which  was  always  taking 

45 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

place  between  the  capital  and  the  rest  of  the 
Empire.  From  the  first,  too,  the  large  Jewish 
element  in  the  city  would  be  specially  interested 
in  what  was  going  on  and  was  turning  the 
world  upside  down.  A  thoughtful  modern  writer 
prefers  to  account  for  its  origin  by  what  he  calls 
the  "process  of  quiet  and  as  it  were  fortuitous 
filtration"  which  was  everywhere  going  on — a 
pregnant  suggestion  well  worth  following  up. 

Primitive  Christianity  was  self-propagating. 
The  great  farewell  Commission,  as  a  formal 
injunction,  came  to  be  unnecessary.  The  impulse 
was  in  the  Gospel  itself.  Not  that  the  method 
of  filtration  was  the  only  method  at  work.  In 
G-alatia  we  know  that  the  church  was  founded 
by  the  great  Missionary  of  the  Gentiles,  who  was 
taken  there  on  one  of  his  epoch-making  tours. 
He  was  passing  through  the  district,  probably 
without  any  intention  of  remaining  in  it,  when 
he  was  struck  down  by  his  thorn  in  the  flesh, 
whatever  that  was,  and  had  to  remain  for  a 
time.  But  Paul  could  never  be  anywhere,  even 
in  sickness,  without  being  an  evangelist ;  and  the 
result  was  a  community  or  church  of  the  living 
God.  And  so  with  the  other  churches.  Each 
has  its  own  gracious  history,  and  each  tells  of 
faithful  workers  known  or  unknown. 

Among  the  agencies  at  work,  Christian  philan- 
46 


The  Apostolic   Era 

thropy  was  one  of  the  most  persuasive.  All  that 
men  needed  was  to  be  found  in  Christ ;  and  in 
that  era  He  was  preached  and  lived  by  those  for 
whom  He  had  been  everything  and  through 
whom  His  glory  shone  forth.  It  was  not  prose- 
lytes they  sought.  Their  efforts  were  not  put 
forth  to  secure  numbers  or  authority,  but  to  bless 
men  through  Him  Who  alone  could  understand 
or  save  them.  The  true  Missionary  enthusiasm 
depends  on  being  possessed  by  the  Divine  passion 
of  love  to  seek  and  save  the  lost. 

Much  discussion  has  gathered  round  the  extent 
to  which  the  Mission  work  of  the  Apostolic  Era 
was  successful  alike  extensively  and  intensively ; 
in  point  of  numbers  and  in  point  of  influence. 
One  calculation  which  has  been  often  handed 
round  has  it  that  at  the  close  of  the  first  century 
there  was  a  Christian  population  of  about  five 
millions ;  whereas  another  has  it  that  there  were 
probably  about  two  hundred  thousand,  a  dis- 
crepancy wliich  at  least  shows  how  little 
definite  information  we  possess.  We  know 
enough,  however,  to  suggest  that  the  smaller 
figure  is  a  gross  under-estimate,  and  that  the 
larger  is  probably  nearer  the  truth. 

Some  idea  of  the  extent  of  the  progress  made 
may  be  derived  from  what  took  place  during  the 
persecutions  under  Nero  and  Domitian.     Tacitus 

47 


The  Call   of  the  New  Era 

says  that  during  the  dreadful  Neronic  persecution 
an  immense  multitude  suffered  for  what  he  calls 
their  superstition ;  and  it  was  not  otherwise  in 
the  later  persecution  under  Domitian  which  began 
in  the  year  95.  There  are  also  various  references 
in  the  literature  of  the  period  to  events  in  Rome, 
which  support  the  contention  that  very  great 
progress  had  been  made.  As  early  as  the  year 
52,  for  example,  according  to  Suetonius,  the 
disturbances  in  the  Jewish  quarter  in  Rome, 
owing  to  disputes  between  Jews  and  Christians, 
were  such  that  the  Emperor  Claudius  was  led  to 
banish  all  Jews  from  the  city.  Then,  only  six 
years  later,  in  the  year  58,  Paul  himself,  in  his 
letter  to  the  Romans,  speaks  of  their  faith  as 
"proclaimed  through  the  whole  world";  while 
other  six  years  after,  that  is  in  the  year  64,  as 
we  have  just  seen,  "an  immense  multitude"  in 
the  Imperial  city  suffered  for  their  faith  in 
Christ. 

Light  is  also  thrown  on  the  extent  of  the 
Christian  conquest  during  the  first  century  by 
what  we  now  know  about  the  kind  of  people 
who  were  being  won.  The  ordinary  idea  is  that 
progress  was  made  mainly  among  the  uneducated 
and  the  slave  population  ;  and  it  goes  without  saying 
that  the  Gospel  must  have  been  specially  welcome 
among  the  masses  of  despairing  men  and  women 

48 


The  Apostolic  Era 

who  were  wearing  out  their  lives  in  bitterness 
and  sorrow.  But  Sir  William  Ramsay,  who  has 
done  so  much  to  reconstruct  the  first  century 
for  us,  and  whose  interest  in  this  theme  is  as 
remarkable  as  his  scholarship,  says  that  at  first 
Christianity  spread  more  rapidly  among  the 
educated  than  among  the  uneducated.  The 
German  writer  Schultze,  too,  says  :  "It  was 
not  the  base  elements  which  came  into  the 
Church,  but,  on  the  contrary,  the  better  strata  of 
the  Roman  population — the  artificers,  the  shop- 
keepers, and  the  small  landed  proprietors ;  there- 
fore preponderatingly  the  under  and  middle 
portion  of  the  citizen  class,  who  in  the  general 
moral  and  religious  dissolution  of  heathenism  still 
proved  themselves  the  soundest  classes  in  the 
community."  Dean  Merivale  also  has  it  that  at 
first  the  Gospel  was  embraced  by  persons 
approaching  to  what  we  should  call  the  middle 
classes  in  their  condition,  their  education,  and 
their  moral  views. 

In  the  year  57,  a  lady  of  illustrious  birth, 
Pomponia  Graecina,  the  wife  of  Aulus  Plautius, 
the  conqueror  of  Britain,  was  tried  before  the 
Senate  on  the  charge  of  being  tainted  with 
"  foreign  superstition" — that  is,  of  being  a  Christian. 
In  the  reign  of  Domitian,  too,  we  read  that 
Flavins  Clemens,   the   consul,    and   Domitilla   his 

N.E.— 4  49 


The  Call  of  the  New   Era 

wife  (the  husbaud  being  the  Emperor's  cousin  and 
the  wife  his  niece),  were  put  on  trial  for  "  atheism  " 
— that  is,  for  being  Christians.  Well  may  Harnack 
say  regarding  this  incident :  "  What  a  change ! 
Between  fifty  and  sixty  years  after  Christianity 
reached  Rome,  a  daughter  of  the  Emperor 
(Vespasian)  embraces  the  faith ;  and  thirty  years 
after  the  fearful  persecutions  of  Nero,  the  pre- 
sumptive heirs  to  the  throne  were  brought  up 
in  a  Christian  home." 

In  addition  to  these  illustrious  converts,  others 
not  less  renowned  were  at  the  same  time  accused 
of  being  Christians ;  among  them  being  Clabrio, 
who  had  been  consul  with  Trajan ;  and  who 
died  for  his  faith.  He  belonged  to  one  of  the 
wealthiest  and  most  illustrious  families  in  the 
State.  The  impression  created  by  such  Con- 
fessors is  borne  out  by  the  incidental  testimony 
of  Scripture  as  to  the  kind  of  converts  the 
first-century  Missionaries  won  for  their  Lord. 
There  were  many  from  among  the  debris,  many 
of  the  flotsam  and  jetsam,  and  the  common 
people  heard  the  Word  gladly.  But  we  hear  also 
of  Sergius  Paulus,  the  proconsul  of  Cyprus ;  of 
Publius,  the  Roman  ruler  in  Malta ;  and  of  the 
Asiarchs  or  chief  rulers  of  Asia  at  Ephesus,  as 
on  the  Saviour's  side.  In  the  same  company  of  the 
redeemed  we  also  meet  men  like  Dionysius,  a  member 

50 


The  Apostolic  Era 

of  the  Council  of  Areopagus  at  Athens ;  Erastus, 
the  public  treasurer  at  Corinth ;  the  centurion 
Cornelius,  the  physician  Luke,  and  Crispus,  the 
ruler  of  the  Jewish  synagogue  at  Corinth. 

Finally,  we  have  the  remarkable  testimony, 
borne  alike  to  the  extent  of  the  conquests  of 
the  Apostolic  Era  and  to  the  character  of  the 
converts,  which  is  to  be  found  in  the  letter 
sent  by  the  Roman  Governor  Pliny  to  the 
Emperor  Trajan  about  the  year  112.  In  this 
important  State  document,  the  perplexed  Governor 
asks  for  directions  as  to  how  he  w^as  to  deal 
with  the  Christians  with  whom  he  was  con- 
stantly coming  into  contact.  It  sets  forth  that 
the  Christian  religion  was  professed  by  "  many 
of  all  ages  and  ranks,  and  of  both  sexes " ;  that 
the  "movement  was  not  confined  to  the  cities, 
but  had  spread  into  the  villages  and  country " ; 
that  the  temples  of  the  old  religions  were  "  almost 
deserted";  that  the  sacred  rites  "were  inter- 
rupted " ;  that  the  victims  for  sacrifice  could 
find  "  very  few  purchasers " ;  and  that  all  this 
had  been  going  on  for  a  long  time.  Pliny  wrote 
from  Bithynian  Pontus,  an  extensive  province  in 
Asia  Minor,  and  there  is  no  reason  for  thinking  that 
that  province  was  in  any  way  exceptional  in  regard 
to  the  extent  to  which  it  had  been  evangelised. 

Beyond  any  question  a  great  and  glorious 
51 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

work  had  been  accomplished  by  the  Missionaries 
of  the  Apostolic  Era,  known  and  unknown ; 
accomplished  in  the  face  of  difficulties  and 
dangers  which  might  have  daunted  the  bravest, 
and  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  Imperial  Rome 
itself,  that  power  which  had  swept  everything 
else  before  it,  had  once  and  again  set  itself  to 
crush  out  the  new  and  obnoxious  faith  with  all 
its  might.  But  then,  as  now,  the  Gospel  of  the 
grace  of  God  was  mightier  than  the  mightiest. 
Everything  that  the  world  counts  mighty  was 
hostile  to  the  Christians ;  yet  they  overcame, 
because  they  were  true  to  their  Lord  and  to  the 
spirit  of  His  Gospel. 

The  outstanding  characteristic  of  the  era  from 
the  Missionary  standpoint  is  that  every  believer 
was  a  Missionary.  "  They  that  were  scattered 
abroad  went  everywhere  preaching  the  Word "  ; 
and  they  who  were  allowed  to  remain  at  home 
preached  the  Word  too.  They  had,  indeed,  no 
choice.  The  whole  social  order  was  such  that  a 
Christian  could  only  remain  a  secret  disciple  by 
denying  his  Lord,  and  a  disciple  who  does  that 
is  no  disciple  at  all.  Necessity  was  laid  on 
them ;  they  had  to  let  their  light  shine  ;  and  it 
was  inevitable  that  they  who  knew  them  should 
be  convinced  that  they  had  been  with  God.  "  A 
city  that  is  set  on  a  hill  cannot  be  hid." 

52 


CHAPTER   III 
TILL   THE   EMPIRE   WAS  WON 


"  They   shall   lay   their  hands   on   you,   and   persecute  you." — 
Luke  21.  12. 

"  He  wlio  would  destroy  evil  must  build  up  good  in  its  place, 
otherwise  he  is  no  architect  of  God." — Boehme. 

"Then  faint  not,  falter  not,  nor  plead 
Thy  weakness ;  truth  itself  is  strong ; 
The  lion's  strength,  the  eagle's  speed, 
Are  not  alone  vouchsafed  to  wrong." 

Whittier. 


54 


CHAPTER  III 
TILL   THE   EMPIRE   WAS   WON 

A  PERIOD  of  almost  exactly  two  centuries 
elapsed  from  the  year  112,  when  Pliny's 
letter  to  Trajan  threw  a  flood  of  light  on  the 
Church  as  it  emerged  from  the  Apostolic  Era,  and 
the  year  313,  when  Constantine's  Edict  of  Milan 
told  that  the  long-drawn  battle  between  the 
Empire  and  the  Church  was  at  an  end,  and  that 
the  Galilean  had  conquered. 

In  dealing  with  these  centuries  from  the  Mission- 
ary view-point,  covering  as  they  do  what  are  called 
the  sub-apostolic  and  the  post-apostolic  eras,  it  is 
impossible  not  to  be  conscious  of  a  certain  fall  in 
the  temperature  as  we  proceed,  even  although  it  is 
a  journey  to  victory.  As  we  pass  from  the  fellow- 
ship of  the  New  Testament  saints  to  meet  even 
those  who  were  nearest  the  Apostles,  we  seem  to 
have  left  much  of  the  sunshine  behind,  and  to 
have  entered  a  region  encompassed  with  clouds. 
Yet  this  change  may  be  more  apparent  than  real. 

55 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

There  was  still  much  sunshine,  if  only  we  had  an 
inspired  record  of  it ;  while  even  in  the  time  of 
the  Apostles  there  were  many  clouds,  as  the  un- 
biased story  so  clearly  shows. 

Great  as  the  superiority  of  the  New  Testament 
writers  is  to  the  sub-apostolic  fathers  and  the 
apologists  who  followed  them,  it  is  a  blunder  to 
imagine  that  everything  was  ideal  even  when  the 
Church  was  still  guided  by  inspired  leaders ;  and 
it  is  difficult  to  understand  how  those  who  have 
the  New  Testament  in  their  hands  can  think  of 
the  golden  age  of  the  Christian  Church  as  in  that 
far-distant  past.  Beyond  any  question,  the  best 
is  yet  to  be ;  and  the  crowning  day  is  coming. 
It  may  even  be  near  at  hand.  Yet  it  is 
true  that  the  temperature  gradually  fell  as  the 
Apostolic  Era  receded  into  the  past.  The  mystery 
of  iniquity,  of  whose  empire  St.  Paul  had  such  sad 
forebodings  even  in  his  time,  soon  manifested  its 
power,  and  the  blight  of  the  priest,  so  strikingly 
absent  in  New  Testament  times,  soon  fell  on  the 
young  Missionary  Church.  Paganism  began  to 
avenge  itself  for  many  a  defeat  by  creeping  into 
doctrine  and  practice  alike,  especially  along  sacer- 
dotal lines.  Christ  had  bruised  its  head ;  but  it 
bruised  His  heel,  until  ultimately  it  had  converted 
the  evangelist  pastor  into  a  sacrificing  priest,  the 
sacrament  of  the  Supper  into  a  sacrifice,  and  the 

56 


Till  the  Empire  was  Won 

communion  table  into  an  altar.  Long  before  the 
Empire  was  won,  the  cloven  hoof  of  priestly 
hankering  after  domination  had  begun  to  show 
itself,  with  disastrous  results,  for  there  is  no  canker 
or  dry  rot  so  deadly ;  and  just  in  proportion  as 
that  subtle  and  evil  change  took  place,  the 
Missionary  spirit  of  the  Church  was  perverted  or 
disappeared. 

These  passing  years,  too,  saw  the  gradual  dis- 
appearance of  the  miraculous  gifts  which  the 
Church  had  formerly  enjoyed.  She  exchanged 
power  with  God  for  power  with  men.  It  may  be, 
indeed,  that  these  gifts  were  granted  only  for  the 
era  in  which  the  ship  Ecclesia  was  being  launched, 
and  were  as  the  manna  which  ceased  when  there 
was  the  corn  of  the  land  ;  but  it  is  by  no  means 
certain  that  the  ministry  of  healing  would  not 
have  persisted  along  with  the  ministry  of  preaching, 
had  the  Church  remained  loyal  to  her  first  love,  and 
allowed  nothing  whatever  to  come  in  between  her 
and  her  Lord. 

When  at  length,  in  the  year  313,  the  official 
authorities  of  the  Empire  recognised  the  much- 
suffering  Church,  and  she  passed  from  the  trial 
by  persecution  to  the  far  more  dangerous  trial  by 
prosperity,  it  has  been  calculated  that  at  least  one- 
twentieth  of  the  entire  population  of  the  Empire 
had  become    Christian.     That  means  that  out   of 

57 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

a  population  estimated  to  have  been  about  one 
hundred  and  twenty  millions,  there  were  six 
millions  of  Christians.  That  was  Gibbon's 
estimate,  and  most  have  adopted  it  as  fairly 
accurate.  At  best,  however,  it  is  only  a  guess, 
alike  as  to  the  population  of  the  Empire  and  the 
proportion  which  had  been  won  for  Christ ;  and 
recent  investigation  has  thrown  such  light  on  what 
the  Gospel  really  achieved  during  these  centuries, 
that  the  tendency  now  among  those  who  speak 
with  authority  is  to  claim  a  much  larger  proportion 
for  Christianity  than  was  allowed  by  Gibbon. 

Some  who  have  much  to  say  for  their  conten- 
tion hold  that  in  Constantine's  day  a  tenth  of  the 
people  rather  than  a  twentieth  were  on  Christ's  side. 
Some  scholars  even  say  that  there  is  warrant  for 
claiming  as  many  as  a  fifth — that  is,  four  times  as 
many  as  have  been  usually  claimed.  But  even  on 
the  lowest  estimate,  we  have  a  record  of  marvellous 
progress,  especially  when  we  bear  in  mind  the 
extraordinary  ferocity  of  the  persecutions  through 
which  the  Church  had  passed.  It  may  be  true  that 
the  blood  of  the  martyrs  has  often  been  the  seed 
of  the  Church,  but  there  were  exceptions  to  the  rule 
where  the  persecutors  were  sufficiently  determined  ; 
and  it  has  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  these  terrible 
persecutions  were  just  at  an  end  when  the  recogni- 
tion came,  and  that  the  seed  so  liberally  sown  and 

58 


Till  the  Empire  was  Won 

watered  had  liad  little  time  in  which  to  bring  forth 
its  Divine  fruit. 

In  tlie  interests  of  the  work  which  has  still  to 
be  done,  our  business  now  is  to  discover  as  best  we 
can  how  such  progress  was  made  in  circumstances 
so  adverse  ;  and  how  the  Church  passed  at  once  from 
persecution  to  fashion  and  favour,  and  the  mighty 
forces  of  paganism  were  forced  at  last  to  cry  out 
that  Christ  had  conquered  in  the  strife.  There 
are  other  lines  of  investigation  connected  with  this 
formative  era  as  the  Empire  was  won  for  our  Lord 
which  might  be  followed  with  profit.  In  particular 
there  is  the  haunting  question,  which  will  not  be 
ignored,  as  to  how  the  progressive  perversion  and 
degradation  of  the  Church  can  be  reconciled  either 
with  such  a  splendid  triumph,  or  with  the  promise 
of  Christ  that  He  would  be  with  her  to  the  end 
and  that  the  Holy  Spirit  would  abide  with  her 
for  ever.  But  the  Missionary  problem  is  all  that 
can  be  faced  here. 

During  this  period  of  stress  and  strain  the 
Church  had  increasingly  to  face  error  from  within, 
as  w^ell  as  heathenism  from  without.  She  had  to 
do  battle  with  Gnosticism,  a  subtle  foe  which 
appeared  in  many  a  guise.  It  would  have  turned 
the  Gospel  of  God's  grace,  which  is  for  all  man- 
kind, into  a  philosophy  which  at  best  could 
only  have  been   for   the    cultured   few.     She  had 

59 


The  Call  of  the   New  Era 

also  to  face  Ebionism,  which  was  in  reality  a  phase 
of  the  protean  opposition  that  St.  Paul  had  to 
combat  all  his  days.  It  sought  to  degrade  the 
universal  religion  of  the  Cross  into  a  sort  of  Jewish 
sect,  and  held  that  in  order  to  be  true  Christians 
men  must  also  be  Jews. 

During  this  period  the  militant  Church,  just 
beginning  to  find  her  feet  among  men,  had  also  to 
turn  aside  at  many  times  and  in  many  places  from 
her  aggressive  work,  to  deal  with  strifes  within 
her  own  borders.  There  was  the  dispute  as  to 
the  right  day  on  which  to  keep  Easter,  a  dispute 
which  never  seems  less  fundamental  than  when 
our  eyes  are  on  the  regions  beyond.  If  only  men 
were  to  cultivate  the  far-off  vision  which  strains 
after  those  who  are  still  without,  they  would 
acquire  more  of  the  grace  of  proportion.  Then 
there  was  the  strife  over  those  who  were  called 
the  Montanists,  a  sect  which  had  this  merit,  at 
least,  that  they  led  to  increased  attention  being 
given  to  the  Person  and  Work  of  the  Holy  Spirit — 
a  theme  which  has  never  received  the  considera- 
tion it  deserves,  and  which  has  been  bestowed  on 
the  kindred  theme,  the  Person  and  Work  of  our 
Lord. 

We  depend  for  our  information  about  these 
sectaries,  if  sectaries  they  were,  on  their  professed 
and   bitter   opponents ;    and,    personally,    I    have 

60 


Till  the  Empire  was  Won 

always  a  liking  for  heretics  whose  error  grows  out 
of  excess  of  zeal.  Our  troubles  have  seldom  come 
along  that  line  ;  and,  deadly  as  fanaticism  is,  what 
has  been  called  fanaticism  has  often  only  been 
misguided  enthusiasm,  and  enthusiasm  is  too  rare 
to  be  needlessly  driven  out.  In  addition  to  these, 
there  was  the  strife  over  what  has  been  variously 
described  as  Sabellianism,  Patripassianism,  and 
Monarchianism.  This  heresy  arose  out  of  a 
genuine  desire  to  vindicate  the  mysteries  of  the 
Christian  faith.  Those  who  fell  into  it,  however, 
dealt  with  the  distinctions  between  the  Three 
Persons  in  the  Trinity  and  the  Two  Natures  of 
our  Lord  in  such  a  way  as  really  to  explain  away 
what  they  sought  to  elucidate.  And  so  it  was 
that  from  the  middle  of  the  second  century  the 
Church,  which  had  to  contend  with  so  many  foes 
from  without,  had  also  to  do  battle  with  dangerous 
tendencies  from  within  ;  and  the  need  was  increas- 
ingly felt  for  the  defence  of  the  faith  against 
popular,  literary,  and  philosophic  attacks  from 
many  standpoints.  Ere  long  the  great  race  of 
Apologists  arose  in  response  to  the  demand. 

We  have  only  to  deal  with  these  doctrinal 
discussions  in  so  far  as  they  bore  on  the  work  of 
evangelisation  which  we  are  seeking  to  trace ;  but 
in  an  important  sense  they  formed  part  of  the 
aggressive  work  to  which  believers  were  then  called, 

6i 


The  Call  of  the  New   Era 

as  they  obeyed  the  marching  orders  of  their  risen 
Lord.  Many  of  the  Apologists  were  devoted 
preachers  and  Missionaries,  and  there  were  classes 
in  the  Empire  who  could  only  be  won  along 
such  argumentative  lines  as  they  pursued.  It 
is  impossible  not  to  be  filled  with  admiration 
for  the  combined  wisdom  and  courage  with 
which  the  many-sided  attack  on  heathenism  was 
made. 

Following  the  example  of  St.  Paul,  the  Church 
set  herself  to  seize  and  occupy  the  great  vantage 
points  all  over  the  Empire,  in  such  centres  as 
Corinth,  Antioch,  and  Ephesus.  When  the 
modern  Mission  movement  began,  more  than  a 
century  ago,  brave  men  and  women  were  content 
to  bury  themselves  in  obscure  places  of  the  earth, 
and  to  go  out  into  veritable  wildernesses  after  the 
wandering  and  lost.  But,  with  all  its  heroism  and 
self-abnegation,  that  method  was  probably  a  mis- 
taken one ;  certainly  it  was  not  the  method  by 
which  the  Apostles  triumphed  and  the  Empire 
was  won.  The  Christian  Missionaries  in  the  post- 
apostolic  era  struck  boldly  at  the  main  centres  of 
wealth  and  trade  ;  and  measured  their  strength  with 
paganism  at  its  best  and  its  worst,  in  its  mightiest 
strongholds.  They  followed  the  great  trunk-lines 
of  Imperial  intercommunication,  and  the  farthest- 
reaching  victories  of  the  new  faith  were  won  in  the 

62 


Till  the  Empire  was  Won 

very  places  where  the  influence  of  Greek  and 
Roman  civilisations  had  been  most  felt.  It  was 
in  cities  like  Rome  and  Corinth,  Antioch  and 
Alexandria,  Carthage  and  Lyons,  the  strategic 
centres  of  government  and  commerce,  and  where 
the  conflict  was  keenest  and  intellectual  life  most 
acute,  that  the  Christian  Church  early  attained  her 
greatest  influence  and  numbers. 

The  rate  of  progress  varied,  of  course,  in  difl'erent 
parts  of  the  Mission  field,  and  the  tide  sometimes 
ebbed  as  well  as  flowed.  But  by  the  end  of  the 
second  century  even  the  fragmentary  documents 
which  have  come  down  to  us  make  us  feel  that 
we  are  in  presence  of  a  system  long  and  firmly 
established.  Every  congregation  was  still  an  out- 
post, and  necessarily  and  inevitably  a  Missionary 
centre ;  but  it  is  everywhere  manifest  that  the 
initial  stage  was  long  since  past.  Even  thus 
early,  according  to  Keim,  the  Christian  population 
numbered  probably  a  sixth  of  the  whole  population 
of  the  Empire,  and  the  Good  News  had  spread  far. 
In  North  Africa,  for  example,  probably  a  tenth  of 
the  people  were  already  Christian,  and  here  as 
elsewhere  the  proportion  w^as  greatest  in  the  cities. 
It  was  where  life  was  keenest  and  men  were  most 
intelligent  that  the  truth  prevailed  most,  and  at  a 
Council  held  at  Carthage  in  the  year  225  there 
were   present   no  fewer  than   seventy  bishops   or 

63 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

representative  pastors  from  North  Africa  and 
Numidia. 

Throughout  the  two  centuries  now  under  review, 
the  Christians  were  practically  under  sentence  of 
death ;  and  it  depended  on  the  temper  or  the 
character  of  the  Emperor  or  his  subordinates  how 
far  that  sentence  was  carried  into  effect  or  kept 
in  suspense.  Their  religion  was  illegal,  a  religio 
illicita,  and  they  themselves  were  outlaws.  Thus 
it  was  that  sometimes  there  was  persecution  in 
one  part  of  the  Empire  while  there  was  peace  in 
another.  Sometimes,  too,  there  were  years  of 
quietness,  and  then  suddenly  the  sky  was  darkened, 
and  the  storm  broke  over  the  faithful,  and  swept 
many  of  them  away.  And,  strangely  enough  from 
one  view-point,  as  we  have  seen,  it  was  often  the 
best  emperors  who  were  the  keenest  persecutors. 
It  was  their  patriotism  which  made  them  hostile 
to  the  only  rival  they  dreaded. 

Hence  the  fact,  which  has  puzzled  not  a  few, 
that  some  of  those  who  have  survived  as  monsters 
of  cruelty  and  infamy  in  ecclesiastical  annals  and 
traditions  have  come  down  in  the  ordinary  histories 
as  great  statesmen  and  thinkers.  But  a  little 
reflection  soon  shows  how  this  is  so.  We  have 
only  to  think  of  St.  Paul  in  his  unconverted  and 
persecuting  days,  to  understand  how  the  very 
loyalty  of  the   good    emperors   to   the   laws    and 

64 


Till  the  Empire  was  Won 

ideals  of  the  Empire,  as  they  understood  them, 
might  rouse  them  to  the  most  determined  efforts  to 
crush  out  the  new  religion  which  seemed  to  them 
to  be  disintegrating  the  Empire  and  setting  itself 
to  destroy  everything  for  which  the  Empire  stood. 
As  for  the  facts,  there  is  no  room  for  doubt. 
Marcus  Aurelius,  for  example,  who  reigned  from 
161  till  180,  was  a  wise  and  patriotic  ruler,  whose 
wise  maxims  and  reflections  are  valued  by  thinkers 
yet.  But  history  records  that  it  was  in  his  reign 
that  Christians  were  first  systematically  persecuted, 
and  a  determined  effort  was  made  to  eradicate  the 
Gospel  and  its  disciples  by  sheer  extermination. 
The  Emperor  regarded  the  Gospel  as  one  of  the 
evil  superstitions  which  were  sapping  the  life- 
blood  of  the  Empire  and  undermining  the  old 
Eoman  strength  and  virtue.  During  his  reign  the 
Christians  suffered  terribly,  alike  from  the  fury  of 
the  populace  and  the  action  of  the  Government. 
Again  and  again  the  mob  rose  against  them,  as 
responsible  for  the  terrible  calamities  from  which 
the  Empire  was  suffering.  For  there  was  not  only 
constant  warfare,  there  were  floods  and  earthquake, 
famine  and  pestilence.  There  was  a  plague  in  the 
year  166,  from  the  destructive  effects  of  which,  ac- 
cording to  Niebuhr,  the  Empire  never  recovered ; 
and  for  all  these  ills  the  blame  was  laid  on  the 
Christians  and  their  alleged  impiety. 
N.E.-5  65 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

The  same  phenomenon  may  also  be  seen  in  con- 
nection with  the  work  of  Decius,  who  reigned  from 
249  till  251.  Once  again  the  Empire  had  fallen  on 
evil  days,  and  the  Emperor  was  bent  on  bringing 
back  the  virtue  and  order  of  former  times,  and  on 
restoring  the  unity  and  vigour  of  the  ages  which 
were  gone ;  and'  he  also  set  himself  to  achieve 
nothing  short  of  the  extermination  of  the  Chris- 
tians. He  did  not,  of  course,  know  what  Christianity 
really  was.  He  was  an  old  Roman,  in  his  faults  as 
well  as  in  his  virtues ;  but  he  believed  that  the 
Gospel  was  the  enemy  of  Rome,  and  he  saw  clearly 
that  the  persecution  waged  heretofore  had  neither 
greatly  diminished  the  power  of  the  ominous 
religion  nor  prevented  its  growth.  Hence  his 
determination  to  destroy  the  Christians  every- 
where, root  and  branch.  These  were  ordered  to 
appear  before  the  magistrates,  and  there  abjure 
their  faith  in  Christ  and  offer  sacrifices  to  the  gods 
of  Rome ;  and  the  persecution  which  ensued  was 
so  systematic  and  ruthless  that  many  yielded  to 
the  Decian  terror.  Fortunately,  however,  it  was 
very  short-lived,  and  the  Church  breathed  freely 
once  again. 

An  illustration  of  the  same  phenomenon,  but 
from  the  other  side,  is  to  be  seen  in  the  career  of 
Commodus,  who  succeeded  Marcus  Aurelius  and 
was  the  unworthy  son  of  a  great  father.     In  his 

66 


Till  the  Empire  was  Won 

time  the  churches  had  comparative  rest;  not  because 
he  had  the  slightest  sympathy  with  the  Gospel, 
but  because  he  was  not  enough  either  of  a  man  or 
a  patriot  to  care  for  the  interests  of  the  Empire  or 
for  the  perpetuation  of  the  old  Roman  principles 
and  virtues. 

During  the  greater  part  of  the  second  century — 
till  the  year  180,  that  is — there  were  four  great 
emperors  :  Trajan,  Hadrian,  Antoninus  Pius,  and 
Marcus  Aurelius  ;  and  when  the  last  of  these  passed 
away,  there  is  reason  for  believing  that,  in  spite  of 
all   opposition    and   persecution,    the   Gospel    had 
obtained  a  hold  on  every  province  throughout  the 
vast  Empire  of  Rome.     It  had  also  spread  in  its 
Missionary  career  over  a  considerable  part  of  the 
Parthian  Empire,  and  into  the  remote  regions  of 
the  Far  East.     It  had  likewise  been  carried  across 
the  frontiers  of  the  Empire  among  the  barbarian 
tribes  of  Western  and  Northern  Europe.     As  early 
as  the  year   170,  a   Christian  prince,  Abgar   Bar 
Manu  by  name,  ruled   in   Edessa,  the   capital   of 
a  small  province  in  Mesopotamia,  and  his  coinage 
was  the  first  to  bear  the  sign  of  the  Cross. 

After  the  four  great  emperors  there  was  a  period 
of  unrest,  which  lasted  for  more  than  a  century, 
and  which  saw  no  fewer  than  twenty-six  emperors, 
only  one  of  whom  died  a  natural  death.  These 
political  troubles  of  the  Empire  were  on  the  whole 

67 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

favourable  to  the  growth  of  the  Church,  inasmuch 
as  the  frequent  changes  rendered  any  settled  policy 
antagonistic  to  it  impossible,  and  most  of  the  rulers 
who  flitted  across  the  scene  were  too  much  taken 
up  with  their  struggle  for  existence  to  interfere 
with  it.  Yet  even  during  these  years  of  tumult 
there  was  many  a  sporadic  attempt  to  suppress  the 
truth.  But  whether  on  a  larger  or  a  smaller  scale, 
these  attempts  were  equally  vain  ;  and  during  the 
last  forty  years  of  this  time  of  upheaval  rapid 
progress  was  everywhere  made  by  the  Missionaries 
of  Christ.  "  Who  can  describe,"  asks  Eusebius, 
"  those  vast  collections  of  men  that  flocked  to  the 
religion  of  Christ ;  and  those  multitudes  crowding 
in  from  every  city,  and  the  illustrious  concourses 
in  the  houses  of  worship  ? " 

This  period  of  unrest  in  the  State  and  progress 
in  the  Church  came  to  an  end  with  the  accession  of 
Diocletian,  another  great  emperor  who  was  also  a 
notable  persecutor,  and  who  is  far  better  known  now 
as  persecutor  than  as  statesman.  The  Church,  how- 
ever, had  become  too  strong  to  be  seriously  shaken, 
even  by  such  a  foe  as  Diocletian  ;  and  after  eight 
more  years  of  direst  sufi'ering,  she  emerged  as 
conqueror,  and  was  on  the  eve  of  Imperial  recogni- 
tion when  Diocletian  died.  Again  the  anvil  had 
worn  out  the  hammer.  "  During  these  years  of 
woe,"  says  Schafl",  "  there  was  no  alternative  but 

68 


Till  the  Empire  was  Won 

apostacy  or  starvation " ;  for  one  device  was  to 
sprinkle  all  the  food  in  the  markets  with  sacrificial 
wine,  so  that  the  Christians  could  not  use  it.  In- 
genuity was  exhausted  to  find  out  new  means  of 
torture  and  disgrace  for  the  faithful,  and  many 
apostatised.  The  great  majority,  however,  stood 
firm,  and  the  crowding  day  was  near. 

Already  in  the  year  261  the  Emperor  Gallienus 
had  acknowledged  Christianity  as  a  religio  licita, 
an  allowed  religion,  although  that  recognition 
was  soon  withdrawn.  From  his  deathbed,  in  311, 
the  Emperor  Galerius  admitted  that  persecution 
had  failed,  and  actually  besought  the  prayers  of 
the  Christians.  Then,  in  312,  Licinius  issued 
decrees  in  favour  of  the  Christians ;  and  finally,  on 
28th  October  of  the  same  year,  the  epoch-making 
battle  of  Milvian  Bridge  was  won  by  Constantine — 
fighting,  as  he  claimed,  under  Divine  guidance, 
with  a  banner  wuth  the  cross  on  it  and  the  legend 
in  hoc  vince,  against  an  enemy  who  had  put 
himself  under  the  protection  of  the  old  gods  of 
Rome. 

After  this  victory,  Constantine  at  once  issued  a 
decree  in  favour  of  Christianity,  and  in  313  the 
famous  Decree  of  Milan  appeared.  It  spoke  "in 
the  name  of  the  Deity  whose  seat  is  in  heaven," 
and  granted  "  both  to  the  Christians  and  to  all  a 
free  power  of  following  the  religion  which   each 

69 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

willed  to  choose."  And  so  that  phase  of  the  great 
world-conflict  between  Christ  and  Antichrist  came 
to  an  end,  and  the  Empire  was  ofiicially  won.  The 
enemy  had  failed  signally  where  frontal  attacks 
were  involved,  and  now  he  set  himself  to  endeavour 
to  destroy  the  Gospel  by  more  subtle  devices  ;  but 
the  open  conflict  was  over  for  ever. 

Throughout  this  long  period  of  conflict  and 
conquest  it  may  be  claimed  generally  that  still,  as 
in  the  Apostolic  Era,  every  Christian  was  a  Mission- 
ary ;  and  every  Christian  community,  even  if  it 
were  only  a  family  or  two,  was  an  outpost  in  the 
war.  The  conditions  of  life  everywhere — social, 
domestic,  and  political  alike — were  such  that 
believers  were  forced  to  be  a  separate  people,  and 
as  such  were  mighty  for  good  wherever  they  were. 
The  salt  had  nowise  lost  its  savour.  The  progress 
of  the  Gospel  meant  the  victory  of  goodness  and 
purity,  and  of  the  service  of  God  through  the 
service  of  man.  The  whole  round  circle  of  life  in 
the  Empire  involved  constant  recognition  of  the 
idolatry  on  which  everything  was  founded ;  and 
thus  it  was  impossible  for  Christians  to  share  in  it, 
and  equally  impossible  for  them  to  conceal  their 
faith  in  Christ.  Whenever  persecution  broke  out, 
either  on  the  smaller  scale  or  the  greater,  it  was 
easy  to  discover  those  who  served  the  only  living 
and  true  God.     Thus  believers  were  letting  their 

70 


Till  the  Empire  was  Won 

light  shine ;  and  such  was  the  surrounding  dark- 
ness, that  it  accentuated  their  light  even  as  the 
midnight  brings  out  the  stars. 

That  interesting  little  book,  The  Teaching  of 
the  Tivelve  Apostles,  which  was  discovered,  in  1875, 
in  the  library  at  Constantinople  by  Bryennios,  tells 
of  travelling  evangelists  who  were  supported  by 
the  churches  and  went  everywhere  preaching  the 
Gospel.  It  is  also  true  that  it  indicates  that 
already,  in  the  generation  immediately  succeeding 
the  Apostles,  precautions  had  to  be  taken  against 
some  who  are  called  "Christ-traffickers" — those 
who  made  merchandise  of  Christ.  But  such  an 
abuse  could  not  have  arisen  so  soon  unless  there  had 
been  a  very  widespread  system  of  itineracy.  There 
were,  of  course,  permanent  office-bearers  in  the 
Church  who  did  not  itinerate,  and  the  organisa- 
tion of  the  local  communities  grew  rapidly  as 
new  needs  arose.  Yet  it  is  manifest  that  a  high 
importance  attached  to  those  who  went  from  place 
to  place. 

The  feature,  however,  which  calls  for  strongest 
emphasis,  as  bearing  on  the  problem  of  all  the  ages, 
is  that  the  Church  of  that  era  was  Missionary  not 
so  much  because  she  supported  Missionaries,  or 
preachers,  but  because  at  every  point  all  who 
named  the  name  of  Christ  set  themselves,  and  had 
to  set   themselves,  to  win   the   heathen  for  their 

71 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

Lord.  The  entire  army  was  mobilised  for  service. 
The  whole  army  was  kept  on  a  w^ar  footing. 
Not  only  was  every  believer  a  Missionary,  and 
necessarily  so ;  all  the  unconverted  were  in 
heathenism.  And  even  yet,  while  there  are  forms 
of  work  in  which  only  a  minority  can  share,  and 
where  those  who  would  help  must  do  so  by  deputy, 
there  is  Mission  work  in  which  every  believer  can 
take  a  part.  Indeed,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say 
that  those  who  do  nothing  directly  are  doing 
nothing  indirectly  in  any  adequate  sense,  no 
matter  how  much  time  or  money  they  may  spend 
on  the  foreign  field.  A  Missionary  Church  must 
still  mean  a  Church  composed  of  Missionaries. 

Probably  the  best  way,  therefore,  to  set  forth 
the  character  of  the  Church's  service  during  the 
two  centuries  which  elapsed  from  the  time  of 
Pliny's  Letter  until  the  appearance  of  the  Edict 
of  Milan,  is  to  see  a  little  of  some  of  the  more 
prominent  workers  whose  names  have  survived. 
As  in  the  earlier  era,  so  also  in  this,  the  vast 
majority  of  the  brave  and  consecrated  souls  who 
lived  and  died  for  Christ  and  won  the  Empire  for 
Him  are  buried  in  oblivion,  so  far  as  history  is 
concerned ;  although  their  names  are  all  written 
in  the  Lamb's  Book  of  Life,  and  their  record  is 
luminous  in  the  lio;ht  of  the  eternal.  But  there 
are  names  here  and  there  which  are  known  to  us 

72 


Till  the  Empire  was  Won 

and  whose  heroic  service  is  on  record,  and  through 
what  we  know  of  them  it  is  possible  to  form  some 
conception  of  what  they  and  others  like  them 
were  doing,  and  of  the  sort  of  Missionaries  they 
were.  There  are  four  of  these  heroes  of  whom 
enough  is  known  to  give  us  an  idea  of  the  nature 
of  their  work — Polycarp,  Justin  Martyr,  Tertullian, 
and  Origen. 

There  are  but  few  who  have  never  heard  of 
Polycarp's  reply  to  the  Eoman  proconsul  who 
urged  him  to  save  his  life  by  denying  his  Lord. 
"  Fourscore  and  six  years  have  I  served  Him,  and 
He  has  done  me  no  wrong.  How  then  shall  I 
curse  my  King  and  Saviour  ? "  Recent  investiga- 
tion has  put  the  date  of  his  martyrdom  at  Smyrna 
as  far  back  as  the  year  155  ;  and  if  he  were  eighty- 
six  years  old  then,  he  must  have  been  a  grown 
man  before  St.  John  passed  to  his  rest.  Indeed, 
Irenseus,  his  pupil,  expressly  states  that  he  had 
not  only  listened  to  the  teachings  of  the  venerable 
Apostle,  but  had  conversed  with  many  who  had 
seen  the  Lord  in  the  flesh.  The  extreme  im- 
portance of  this  fact  in  connection  wdth  the 
authorship  of  the  Gospel  according  to  St.  John 
has  often  been  pointed  out. 

The  only  one  of  the  writings  of  Polycarp  which 
has  survived  is  a  short  Epistle  to  the  Philippians, 
in  which  he  appeals  frequently  to  the  memory  of 

7Z 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

the  Apostles  as  one  who  had  known  them  at  first 
hand,  and  which  gives  ample  evidence  of  the 
maturity  of  his  Christian  life.  He  sets  himself  to 
redress  some  of  the  abuses  which  had  crept  into 
the  church  at  Philippi,  especially  in  connection 
with  the  love  of  money,  which  had  led  to  grave 
disorders.  He  is  particularly  emphatic  in  his 
denunciation  of  heresy,  which  was  already  a 
serious  factor  in  the  situation.  His  long  life  in 
one  way  and  another  was  spent  in  seeking  to  win 
the  heathen  for  Christ ;  and  after  living  for  his 
Lord,  he  died  for  Him,  spurning  every  temptation 
to  escape  by  recantation  or  denial. 

As  his  name  testifies,  Justin  Martyr,  like  so 
many  of  his  contemporaries,  was  honoured  by 
being  called  to  give  up  his  life  for  his  Saviour. 
He  died  at  Rome,  probably  about  the  year  165,  or 
ten  years  later  than  Polycarp.  He  had  been  a 
student  of  philosophy  before  his  conversion,  and 
had  in  vain  sought  satisfaction  for  his  spiritual 
yearnings  in  the  various  schools  of  ancient  thought. 
About  the  year  131  he  met  a  venerable  stranger 
on  the  seashore,  probably  somewhere  in  Palestine, 
and  through  him  he  was  led  to  find  in  Christ  the 
satisfaction  for  heart  and  intellect  alike  which  he 
had  been  unable  to  find  anywhere  else.  As  has 
so  often  been  the  case  in  Mission  work,  it  was  an 
obscure  worker  who  thus  gave  Justin  to  the  Church 

74 


Till  the  Empire  was  Won 

and  to  us.  Behold  how  great  a  matter  a  little 
fire  kindleth ! 

The  lowliest  worker  may  win  some  great 
standard-bearer  for  the  truth.  Justin  was  an 
eager,  warm-hearted  man,  full  of  courage ;  and 
just  as  he  had  hungered  and  thirsted  for  the  light 
before  he  knew  the  Lord,  so  after  he  had  found 
the  great  Light  he  was  eager  to  carry  it  everywhere 
to  those  who  were  still  sitting  in  darkness  and  in 
the  shadow  of  death  ;  and  he  became  a  Missionary 
along  the  lines  of  his  philosophical  experience  and 
equipment.  He  put  all  his  gifts  and  training  at 
the  service  of  Christ,  and  two  elaborate  Apologies 
or  vindications  have  come  down  to  us  from  his 
pen,  as  well  as  a  treatise  written  to  win  and  con- 
vince the  Jews.  Dating  as  they  do  from  about 
the  middle  of  the  second  century,  these  works 
are  of  very  great  value,  especially  as  historical 
documents. 

The  splendid  testimony  which  he  bears  in  his 
first  Apology  to  the  moral  triumphs  of  the  Gospel 
may  be  quoted  as  typical  of  the  bold  line  which 
the  apologists  of  those  days  usually  adopted. 
"  We  who  once  delighted  in  adultery,"  he  writes, 
"  are  now  become  chaste ;  once  given  to  magic, 
now  we  are  consecrated  to  the  One  Good  God ; 
once  loving  wealth  above  all  things,  we  now  hold 
all  our  goods  in  common  and  share  them  with  the 

75 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

poor ;  once  full  of  hatred  and  slaughter,  now  we 
live  together  in  peace,  and  pray  for  our  enemies 
and  strive  to  convert  our  persecutors."  What 
Gibbon  called  his  "  splendid  exaggeration "  may 
also  be  quoted  as  typical  of  the  aggressive  spirit 
of  those  early  evangelists.  "  For  there  is  not  one 
single  race  of  men,"  he  says,  "whether  barbarians 
or  Greeks,  or  whatever  they  may  be  called,  nomads 
or  vagrants  or  herdsmen  dwelling  in  tents,  among 
whom  prayers  and  giving  of  thanks  are  not  offered 
through  the  name  of  the  Crucified  Jesus." 

The  conquest  of  the  world  for  Christ  through 
sheer  devotion  and  goodness  born  of  His  Spirit 
was  proceeding  apace,  and  the  Church  was  not  yet 
"  sicklied  o'er  with  the  pale  cast  of  thought." 
When  Justin  was  before  the  Roman  tribunal  on 
trial  for  his  life,  he  was  asked  to  define  his  Christian 
philosophy,  and  gladly  availed  himself  of  the 
opportunity  to  tell  in  forceful  words  of  his  faith 
in  the  God  of  heaven  and  earth,  through  Whom 
he  had  found  peace  and  rest  after  long  and  weary 
quest.  The  judge,  with  ill-timed  raillery,  asked 
him  whether  lie  thouo;ht  he  would  ascend  into 
heaven  when  his  head  was  cut  off.  "I  know  it," 
he  replied  to  the  interruption.  "  Yes,  beyond  all 
power  to  doubt  I  know  it."  When  he  was  urged 
to  save  his  life  by  offering  sacrifice  to  the  gods, 
he  said  :  "  Our  great  desire  is  to  suffer  for  Christ ; 

76 


Till  the  Empire  was  Won 

for  that  will  give  us  confidence  before  His  awful 
judgment-seat,  at  the  bar  of  which  the  whole 
world  will  have  to  stand."  Sentence  of  death 
was  then  pronounced,  and  was  carried  out  the 
same  day.  Taking  him  all  in  all,  Justin  is  one  of 
the  most  interesting  workers  of  his  age ;  and  his 
Missionary  labours  were  all  transfused  with  a 
glow  which  came  straight  from  his  ardent,  eager 
soul. 

Tertullian,  for  ever  famous  as  a  defender  and 
exponent  of  the  Christian  faith,  is  the  outstanding 
representative  of  the  North  African  Church,  He 
was  born  at  Carthage,  not  later  than  the  year  160, 
and  became  a  Christian  when  he  was  about  thirty- 
two  years  of  age.  He  was  a  highly  educated  man, 
and  his  extant  writings  show  him  to  have  been  a 
keen  debater,  witty,  sarcastic,  and  intense,  the 
most  human  of  all  the  Fathers.  "  Let  the  Tiber 
overflow  its  banks,"  he  says  in  one  passage,  "  let 
the  Nile  fail  to  inundate  the  country,  let  the 
heavens  be  of  brass,  let  the  sun  be  darkened,  let 
famine  or  pestilence  visit  the  land,  and  at  once 
the  cry  is  raised,  '  The  Christians  to  the  lions.' " 
His  great  claim,  too,  is  of  interest  yet  to  every 
student  of  Missionary  enterprise.  "  We  are  a 
people  of  yesterday ;  and  yet  we  have  filled  every 
place  belonging  to  you  —  cities,  islands,  castles, 
towns,  assemblies,  your  very  camps,  your  tribes. 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

companies,  palaces,  senate,  forum !  We  leave  you 
your  temples  only.  We  count  your  armies ;  our 
number  in  a  single  province  will  be  greater." 

In  this  also  we  have  the  buoyancy  of  youth. 
This  was  what  could  be  proclaimed  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  third  century,  when  the  work  of  world- 
evangelisation  was  hardly  begun.  Tertullian's 
vehemence  and  asceticism  led  him  to  join  the 
Montanists,  a  step  he  took  some  time  between 
199  and  203.  These  sectaries,  who  have  probably 
got  scant  justice  from  the  orthodox  historians, 
even  as  they  got  scant  justice  from  the  orthodox 
Church  of  the  time,  were  loyal  to  all  the  great 
verities  of  the  faith,  and  differed  from  the  main 
body  of  believers  along  three  lines,  which  are  full 
of  interest  as  showing  some  of  the  tendencies 
striving  for  expression  in  those  stirring  times. 
They  rejected  the  current  doctrines  regarding 
the  government  of  the  Church ;  they  were  in- 
clined to  asceticism,  perhaps  even  to  fanaticism ; 
and  they  attached  so  much  importance  to  the 
revelations  of  their  prophet-preachers  as  to  inter- 
fere with  the  authority  and  sufficiency  of  Scripture. 
It  is  not  easy,  however,  to  say  how  far  they  were 
actually  in  the  wrong,  and  how  far  they  were 
driven  to  extremes  by  their  opponents ;  and  it  is 
not  at  all  unlikely  that  they  represent  an  ex- 
aggerated   opposition    to   the   worldly   tendencies 

78 


Till  the  Empire  was  Won 

which  were  already  manifesting  themselves  in  the 
Church. 

The  fact  that  Tertullian  associated  himself  with 
them  would  seem  to  support  this  view,  and  it  is 
not  our  part  to  pass  any  sweeping  condemnation. 
It  may  be  easier  to  place  them,  both  in  their 
weakness  and  their  strength,  when  we  find  that 
they  claimed  for  themselves  the  title  "  the 
spiritual,"  and  described  the  ordinary  Christians 
as  "the  carnal."  As  for  Tertullian  himself, 
although  he  shared  to  the  full  in  the  persecution 
of  the  time,  he  does  not  seem  to  have  been  called 
on  to  seal  his  testimony  with  his  blood.  The 
glory  of  his  work  is  that  everything  centres  round 
the  great  doctrines  of  sin  and  grace,  and  probably 
no  one  in  all  that  early  Church  had  an  influence 
equal  to  his.  Even  yet  his  pages  glow  with  en- 
thusiasm and  quiver  with  passion.  His  writings 
embody  his  whole  soul,  and  never  did  a  writer 
more  fully  infuse  his  entire  moral  life  into  what 
he  wrote. 

If  Tertullian  be  the  greatest  of  the  Latin 
Fathers,  Origen  is  the  greatest  of  the  Greek 
Fathers.  He  was  born  in  Alexandria  about  the 
year  185.  His  father  was  a  Christian  of  some 
standing,  and  he  received  a  liberal  education,  being 
so  thoroughly  trained  in  Scripture  that  he  early 
knew  many  portions  by  heart.     In  harmony  with 

79 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

such  a  good  beginniDg,  his  best-known  work  is  his 
Hexapla,  or  six-version  edition  of  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures,  which  was  the  greatest  work  of  its  kind 
until  twelve  centuries  later  Erasmus  gave  the 
Church  the  Greek  text  of  the  New  Testament. 
Origen's  father  died  as  a  martyr  in  the  year  202, 
and  as  one  result  the  son  found  himself  utterly 
destitute  at  the  age  of  seventeen.  Till  he  was  past 
middle  life,  his  home  was  in  Alexandria,  where  he 
did  splendid  service  as  a  teacher.  In  this  work  he 
was  successful  in  winning  many  of  his  heathen 
pupils  for  Christ,  a  fact  which  emphasises  the 
truth  that  the  Church  was  then  Missionary  at 
every  pore  and  in  every  sphere.  He  had  also  a 
reputation  for  bringing  those  who  had  wandered 
into  heresy  back  to  the  orthodox  fold ;  one  of 
those  whom  he  thus  rescued  from  error,  a  wealthy 
man  named  Ambrosius,  who  had  been  a  Gnostic, 
putting  a  costly  library  at  his  disposal  for  the 
good  work,  along  with  seven  shorthand  writers 
and  a  number  of  copyists. 

In  various  cases  where  trouble  had  arisen,  Origen 
was  sent  or  invited  to  visit  churches  in  their 
distress,  and  was  able  to  heal  their  divisions.  As 
a  preacher,  too,  he  w^ent  to  Csesarea,  where  in 
later  life  he  found  refuge  from  his  adversaries. 
About  the  year  218  he  was  summoned  by  the 
mother  of  Alexander  Severus,  afterwards  Emperor, 

80 


Till  the  Empire  was  Won 

to  instruct  her  in  the  faith  of  Christ.  He  was  a 
great  Missionary  teacher  and  preacher,  and  his 
reputation  as  a  writer  was  such  that  they  used 
to  say  he  had  written  six  thousand  books.  Broken 
by  suffering,  he  died  in  the  year  254,  one  of  his 
favourite  sayings  in  his  passing  being  :  "  Love  is  an 
agony,  a  passion."  To  love  the  truth  so  as  to 
suffer  for  it ;  to  love  all  mankind  with  a  yearning 
to  bring  them  to  Christ ;  to  love  if  need  be  to  the 
death — that  was  the  creed  and  the  character  of 
Origen. 

It  was  through  workers  such  as  these,  known 
and  unknown,  that  the  Empire  was  won  for  Christ. 
The  Missionaries  were  of  all  sorts,  of  all  ranks  and 
classes — slaves  and  patricians,  humble  girls  and 
famous  scholars,  statesmen  and  rude  labourers. 
And  it  was  a  wonderful  work  they  did  for  humanity 
and  God.  Through  their  influence,  all  the  relation- 
ships of  life  were  softened  and  sweetened.  The 
old  paternal  severity  was  transformed,  the  relation 
of  husband  and  wife  was  purified,  children  were 
educated,  labour  was  dignified,  and  the  slave  sat 
beside  his  master  at  the  Table  of  the  Lord. 
Liberty  was  born  in  that  early  Church ;  middle 
walls  of  partition  were  broken  down  ;  the  power  of 
the  new  spirit  was  everywhere  felt.  And  so  the 
tide  rose  higher  and  higher  until  the  Edict  of 
Milan  became  a  moral  and  spiritual  necessity. 

N.E.— 6  8 1 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

There  are  obvious  limits  to  the  power  of  an 
oppressor,  even  when  he  is  an  absolute  autocrat ; 
and  when  the  Gospel  lays  hold  of  the  common 
people,  the  persecutor  is  baffled.  The  poppy-heads 
may  be  struck  off,  but  not  the  blades  of  grass  when 
once  they  have  spread  all  over  the  plain.  If  only 
the  Empire  had  stopped  short  with  recognition,  all 
might  have  been  well.  That  is  all  the  Church  of 
the  living  God  should  ever  seek,  whether  it  be  in 
China  or  Britain — a  fair  field  and  no  favour.  The 
State  should  be  Christian,  just  like  the  Church,  a 
holy  institution  of  God.  But  when  the  State  takes 
the  Church  under  her  wing  and  patronises  her, 
she  does  more  harm  than  good ;  and  it  is  open 
to  question  whether  even  yet  the  Church  has 
recovered  from  the  hurt  she  received  when  the 
favour  of  the  Emperor  led  multitudes  to  crowd 
into  her  courts,  converted  by  Imperial  Edict  and 
not  by  the  grace  of  Christ.  Certain  it  is  that 
under  the  new  auspices,  and  in  the  sunshine  of  the 
Imperial  favour,  the  mystery  of  iniquity,  of  which 
St.  Paul  had  such  sad  forebodings,  developed  apace, 
until  the  tyranny  of  the  priest  took  the  place  of 
that  of  the  pagan  oppressor,  and  the  sacerdotal 
spirit  led  to  many  features  of  paganism  being 
incorporated  into  the  doctrines  and  practices  of 
the  Church. 

And  thus,  on  the  very  morning  of  victory, 
82 


Till  the  Empire  was  Won 

the  whole  problem  became  complicated  and  the 
whole  situation  became  perplexing  after  a  new 
sort.  "  As  soon  as  ever  Christianity  is  cast 
into  the  world  to  begin  its  history,"  says  Mozley 
in  his  University  Sermons^  "that  moment  there 
begins  the  great  deception."  "There  are  to  be 
false  Christs  and  false  prophets,  false  signs  and 
wonders ;  so  that  it  is  the  parting  admonition  of 
Christ  to  His  disciples,  'Take  heed  lest  any  man 
deceive  you,'  as  if  that  would  be  the  great  danger." 
The  explanation  of  this  "mass  of  deception," 
according  to  the  preacher,  lies  in  the  solemn  power 
of  Christianity  "  not  only  to  bring  out  the  truth 
of  human  nature,  but,  like  some  wonderful  alchemy, 
to  elicit  and  extract  the  falsehood  of  it ;  not  only 
to  develop  what  is  sincere  and  sterling  in  man,  but 
what  is  counterfeit  in  him  too."  And  so  there  are 
warnings  as  well  as  inspiration  for  the  great 
Missionary  enterprise  from  this  marvellous  era  of 
tribulation  and  triumph. 


83 


CHAPTER  IV 
MEDIEVAL   MISSIONS 


85 


"  For  there  is  no  difference  between  the  Jew  and  the  Greek  ;  for 
the  same  Lord  over  all  is  rich  nnto  all  that  call  upon  Him." — 
Rom.  10.  12. 

"  Nothing  is  destroyed  until  it  is  replaced." — Comte. 

"  I  believe  that  the  root  of  almost  every  schism  and  heresy  from 
which  the  Christian  Church  has  ever  suffered,  has  been  the  effort 
to  earn,  rather  than  to  receive,  their  salvation ;  and  that  the  reason 
that  preaching  is  so  commonly  ineffectual  is,  that  it  calls  on  men 
oftener  to  work  for  God,  than  to  behold  God  working  for  them." — 

RUSKIN. 


86 


CHAPTER  IV 
MEDIAEVAL   MISSIONS 

ALTHOUGH  the  period  from  the  Edict  of 
Milan,  with  its  Imperial  recognition  of 
Christianity,  till  the  Reformation  in  the  sixteenth 
century  is  a  long  one,  it  may  be  traversed  swiftly 
so  far  as  Missions  are  concerned.  It  is  true  that 
these  centuries,  sometimes  so  silent,  and  these  ages, 
sometimes  so  dark,  raise  many  problems  in  con- 
nection with  Missions,  but  for  the  most  part  it  is 
enough  to  state  these  and  carry  them  forward. 

In  this  era  Christianity  spread  over  the  whole 
of  Europe,  with  the  exception  of  the  far  North. 
On  the  other  hand,  and  sadly  enough  during  this 
era,  too,  the  mystery  of  iniquity — which  had  begun 
to  manifest  itself  at  an  earlier  stage,  mainly  in  the 
form  of  sacerdotalism,  and  had  been  so  strongly 
reinforced  by  Imperial  favour — actually  obtained 
the  mastery  within  the  Church.  Not  only  so,  but 
during  this  mediaeval  era  flourishing  churches  like 
that  of  North  Africa,  the  church  of  Tertullian, 

87 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

decayed  and  disappeared,  owing  mainly,  as  some 
think,  to  the  fact  that  they  had  ceased  to  be 
Missionary  churches.  It  is  of  the  very  nature  of 
the  case  that  a  Missionary  church  alone  can  be 
healthy  and  progressive,  and  it  is  also  of  the  nature 
of  the  case  that  churches  which  are  not  progressive 
must  be  retrograde. 

So  completely  did  the  blight  of  paganism  fall 
on  the  life  and  doctrine  of  the  Church,  that  on  the 
eve  of  the  Eeformation  the  official  head  of  Christen- 
dom, Pope  Leo  x.,  could  describe  the  Gospel  as 
having  been  a  profitable  fable  for  him  and  his. 
The  Reformation  was  a  return  to  New  Testament 
simplicities  and  purities,  a  great  movement  back 
to  Christ.  It  was  the  resurrection  of  the  Church 
from  the  grave  of  pagan  corruption,  a  revival  of 
heart-religion. 

As  has  been  already  indicated,  Christianity 
suffered  the  most  deadly  injury  when  the  sunshine 
of  public  and  unwonted  favour  brought  many  into 
her  membership  who  had  been  converted  by  the 
Imperial  Edict  and  not  by  the  power  of  Divine 
truth.  Men  and  women  crowded  into  her  ranks 
who  brought  with  them  their  heathen  philosophies 
and  their  love  of  pagan  ceremonial,  corrupting 
the  simplicity  of  the  Gospel  alike  in  faith  and 
worship ;  so  that  to  this  day  every  branch  of  the 
Church  suffers   from   the   insidious   invasion.     So 

88 


Mediaeval  Missions 

true  is  it  that  the  paganism  which  had  been 
conquered  proved  deadlier  than  the  paganism 
which  had  power  to  persecute  and  kill.  Victi 
victorihus  leges  dederunt — the  conquered  gave 
laws  to  the  conquerors. 

Historians  have  sometimes  dated  the  final  dis- 
appearance of  paganism  as  having  taken  place  in 
the  fifth  century,  but  it  is  certain  that  it  has 
not  disappeared  yet.  Such  phenomena  as  the 
immoralities  of  the  Europe  of  the  Eennaissance, 
the  rationalism,  moderatism,  and  Socinianism  of 
the  Europe  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  the 
materialism  and  indifi'erence  to  revealed  religion 
of  the  Europe  of  to-day,  are  due  not  so  much 
to  periodic  backsliding  as  to  the  periodic  recru- 
descence of  the  paganism  which  has  never  yet  been 
quite  destroyed,  and  which  has  its  perennial  ally 
in  the  unregenerate  human  heart  with  its  hatred  of 
the  supernatural. 

Our  business  now,  however,  is  to  see  how  the 
truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus  spread  all  over  the  Empire 
and  beyond  it,  among  the  barbarians  subsequent 
to  the  conversion  of  Constantine.  Inroads  had 
already  been  made  on  the  territories  which  lay 
outside  the  Empire  and  beyond  the  bounds  of 
civilisation.  Tertullian  could  boast  that  regions 
which  were  inaccessible  to  the  armies  of  Rome  had 
been   brought   into  subjection  to   Christ.     Before 

89 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

the  close  of  the  third  century,  Christian  captives 
had  carried  the  Gospel  among  the  Goths,  and  at 
the  Council  of  Niccea  in  325  there  was  a  representa- 
tive of  the  Goths  present.  Yet  it  is  quite  correct 
to  put  it  that  in  the  time  of  Constantine  the  work 
which  lay  before  the  Church,  the  Missionary  work 
of  the  Middle  Ages,  was  to  win  for  Christ  the  lands 
which  lay  outside  the  Empire,  or  were  too  far  from 
the  centre  for  effective  rule.  Nor  was  the  work 
any  the  easier  that  many  of  those  who  had  thus  to 
be  evangelised  were  migratory  tribes.  It  was  an 
important  feature  of  the  work,  too,  that  now  it  had 
often  to  be  done  among  peoples  who  were  wholly 
barbarous,  and  no  longer  among  those  who  were  as 
truly  civilised  as  the  Missionaries  themselves.  The 
extent  to  which  this  was  accomplished  may  be 
estimated  in  part  by  the  respect  for  the  Church 
shown  by  many  of  the  barbarians  who  ere  long 
swept  down  on  the  Empire. 

One  other  noteworthy  feature  of  the  mediaeval 
Mission  work  of  the  Church  was  that  those  who 
did  it  were  not  unwilling  at  times  to  use  the  arm 
of  flesh  which  was  now  sometimes  at  their  disposal. 
That  was  one  of  the  by-products  of  the  Imperial 
recognition  and  the  new  Erastianism,  and  it  was  no 
more  helpful  to  true  spiritual  work  than  the  re- 
course of  some  Romanist  Missionaries  to  the  moral 
support  of  gunboats  has  been  helpful  in  our  time. 

90 


Mediaeval   Missions 

By  the  thirteenth  or  fourteenth  century  Mission- 
ary effort  had  practically  ceased.  Europe  as  a 
whole  was  by  that  time  nominally  Christian  ;  the 
New  World  was  not  yet  opened  up,  and  the  great 
Eastern  empires  were  closed  against  the  truth. 
But  even  up  to  that  point  the  story  is  far  from 
being  one  of  uninterrupted  progress ;  for  Moham- 
medanism had  long  since  devastated  what  had  been 
Christian  territories  in  Northern  Africa,  and  the 
lands  which  had  witnessed  the  early  triumphs  of 
the  Missionaries  of  Christ.  It  has  been  remarked 
that  although  the  Church  very  early  gave  a  place 
in  her  public  devotions  to  prayers  for  the  conver- 
sion of  the  heathen,  there  was  no  actual  organisation 
for  that  end.  That  was  probably  due  to  the  fact 
that  for  long  the  whole  Church  was  such  an 
organisation,  and  that,  strictly  speaking,  there 
should  be  no  other.  Yet  as  the  Church  became 
world-wide,  the  absence  of  some  such  definite 
organisation  may  have  hastened  the  cessation  of 
overt  efforts  to  win  the  heathen  for  the  Lord. 
Forms  and  organisations  have  their  drawbacks, 
but  they  have  this  advantage,  that  even  if  some- 
times, when  the  tide  of  spiritual  life  has  receded, 
they  may  be  little  more  than  forms,  when  the  tide 
rises  again  they  are  there  to  be  reinfused  with  the 
spirit  of  power :  and  historically  that  has  often 
meant  much. 

91 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

To  enter  fully  into  the  liistory  of  mediaeval 
Missions,  fragmentary  as  it  often  is,  would  mean 
following  the  career  of  men  like  Ulphilas,  the 
Apostle  of  the  Goths,  who  was  a  boy  of  seven 
when  the  Council  of  Nicsea  met ;  Valentinus  and 
Severinus,  who  evangelised  the  tribes  of  the  Upper 
Danube  ;  Martin  of  Tours,  who  wrought  among  the 
Franks;  Augustine,  who  was  sent  to  the  men  of 
Kent ;  Aidan,  who  was  the  Missionary  of  the 
Northumbrian  Saxons ;  Gallus,  who  preached  in 
Switzerland ;  Killian,  who  spread  the  light  in 
Thuringia;  Virgilius,  who  penetrated  into  the 
darkness  of  Carinthia ;  and  Columbanus,  who  told 
the  Burgundians  of  the  Vosges  of  the  grace  of 
God.  Many  such  names  still  survive,  sometimes 
as  nothing  more  than  names,  to  remind  us  of  the 
multitudes  who  braved  every  danger  that  they 
might  hand  on  the  light  which  had  illumined  their 
own  souls,  and  share  with  the  weary  and  heavy- 
laden  the  joy  which  had  come  into  their  own  lives. 
But  we  must  divide  if  we  are  to  conquer,  and  from 
one  sphere  we  may  learn  all  that  is  essential  in  the 
rest. 

We  shall  therefore  take  what  was  done  in 
Scotland  as  typical  of  what  was  going  on  all  over 
the  outlying  regions  of  Europe.  We  shall  trace  with 
some  detail  the  work  of  the  early  Missionaries  who 
came  into  that  little  grey  Northern  land  and  made 

92 


Mediaeval  Missions 

it,  by  the  grace  of  God,  not  only  the  mother  of 
many  stalwart  men  and  gracious  women,  but  the 
mother  of  many  of  the  best  Missionaries  who  have 
ever  adventured  out  into  the  regions  beyond. 

All  over  Scotland  there  are  place-names  such  as 
Kilbride,  Kilmarnock,  Kilkerran,  Kilwinning,  Kil- 
ninian,  Kilconquhar,  Kilpatrick,  Kilmary,  and 
many  another,  which  serve  to  remind  the  genera- 
tions following  of  what  St.  Bride,  St.  Marnock,  St. 
Patrick,  and  other  Missionaries  did  in  the  olden 
time  when  a  man  could  only  live  through  his  work. 
In  some  instances  these  and  similar  landmarks  are 
so  widespread  as  to  show  that  the  influence  of  the 
evangelists  in  question  was  not  confined  to  any 
one  district  or  tribe.  St.  Bruic,  for  example,  who 
survives  in  Bute,  survives  also  in  Brittany.  All 
over  the  Highlands  and  Western  Isles  of  Scotland, 
too,  there  are  places  called  Kildonnan,  in  memory 
of  St.  Donnan,  who  is  said  to  have  been  martyred 
at  Eigg,  a  small  island  North  of  lona,  in  the  year 
617.  Not  only  so,  but  there  is  a  Kildonnan  in 
Wigtonshire  in  the  South,  another  in  Ayrshire  in 
the  West,  and  yet  another  relic  in  Auchterless  in 
Aberdeenshire,  where  there  is  a  cattle  market  held 
annually  called  Donnan  Fair. 

Another  of  these  early  itinerant  evangelists  has 
his  memory  preserved  in  this  singular  roll-call  of 
the  saints  in  a  little  island  off  the  shore  of  South 

93 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

Knapdale  in  Argyleshire,  called  Eilan  Moir  Vic 
O'Chormoig — that  is,  the  island  of  the  great  Cormac. 
In  the  small  island  of  Bute  alone  there  are  traces 
of  the  blessed  and  fruitful  work  of  at  least  seven 
of  these  old-world  workers  for  God — Marnock, 
Chattan,  Blain,  Ninian,  Michael,  Bruic,  and  Bride 
or  Bridget. 

As  interesting  a  case  as  any  is  one  only  recently 
authenticated.  All  through  Argyleshire  there  are 
scattered  sites  or  remains  of  ecclesiastical  build- 
ings coming  under  names  with  a  generic  similarity, 
such  as  Kilmary,  Kilmory,  Kilmorich,  Kilmora, 
and  Kilmoray.  In  Ross-shire,  too,  there  is  the 
beautiful  mountain  lake,  Loch  Maree ;  one  of  its 
islands,  called  Eilan  Maree,  has  many  ecclesi- 
astical traditions  clustering  round  it.  For  long 
it  was  thought  that  these  were  reminiscences 
of  the  worship  of  the  Virgin  Mary  in  the  early 
Scottish  Church ;  but  it  is  known  now  that  they 
commemorate  the  work  of  an  itinerant  Missionary, 
Maelrubha  by  name,  whose  memory  is  said  to  be 
perpetuated  throughout  the  North  and  West  of 
Scotland  by  no  fewer  than  twenty-one  place-names. 
Strangely  enough,  and  as  an  instance  of  how  the 
battle  between  error  and  truth  came  and  went  in 
these  early  days,  the  incursions  of  the  pagan  Danes 
undid  the  work  of  this  saint  so  completely  that,  after 
the  Revolution  of  1688,  the  Presbytery  of  Dingwall 

94 


Mediaeval   Missions 

in  Ross-sliire  had  great  difficulty  in  putting  down 
the  practice  of  offering  yearly  sacrifice  to  this  same 
Maelrubha.  The  Christian  Missionary  had  actually 
been  transformed  into  a  heathen  deity,  and  was 
worshipped  as  such  for  generations  after  the  Re- 
formation. 

In  like  fashion  all  over  Scotland  there  are  traces 
of  the  work  of  men  like  Cuthbert,  Kenneth, 
Baithean,  Aidan,  and  many  another  of  the  Scottish 
legion  of  honour.  The  story  of  St.  Patrick  affords 
an  interesting  glimpse  and  proof  of  how  their  good 
work  had  been  going  on  from  very  early  times. 
He  seems  to  have  been  born  on  the  banks  of  the 
Clyde  about  the  year  397,  at  Bonavern,  afterwards 
called  Kilpatrick  in  memory  of  its  greatest  son. 
It  was  a  Christian  village  in  the  midst  of  heathen- 
ism, and  his  father  was  a  deacon  in  the  church  of 
the  community ;  his  pre-baptismal  name  showing 
further  that  he  belonged  to  a  native  family.  We 
cannot  now  tell  whether  these  Christians  had  come 
to  Strathclyde  to  make  disciples,  or  whether,  like 
so  many  other  Missionaries,  they  had  been  driven 
into  the  wilds  by  persecution ;  but  however  they 
came,  they  had  gathered  others  round  them. 
England  received  the  Gospel  from  Rome  and  the 
East.  In  due  course  she  sent  it  North  to  Scotland, 
and  then  in  turn  Scotland  sent  Patrick  to  Ireland. 
Later  on,  when  the  former  light  had  been  quenched, 

95 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

Ireland  paid  her  debt  with  interest  Ly  giving 
Cohimba  to  Scotland.  Thus  the  three  countries 
were  early  bound  together  in  a  true  union  of  hearts, 
and  by  the  most  precious  and  gracious  ties  of 
mutual  indebtedness  and  mutual  faith  in  the  One 
Saviour  and  Lord. 

There  are  three  names  which  rise  out  of  the 
obscurity  of  these  early  days  in  Scotland  in  such 
a  fashion  as  to  merit  special  consideration — Ninian, 
Kentigern,  and  Columba.  Ninian  was  a  century 
and  a  half  before  the  other  two,  who  were  partly 
contemporaries.  Speaking  approximately,  the 
three  divide  Scotland  among  them.  Ninian  is 
the  saint  of  Galloway  and  the  Southern  Picts, 
although  he  seems  to  have  penetrated  as  far  North 
as  Stirlingshire  and  Perthshire.  Kentigern,  or 
Mungo,  as  he  is  sometimes  called,  is  the  saint  of 
Glasgow  and  the  West  of  Scotland ;  while  Columba 
did  his  main  work  among  the  Scots  of  the  Western 
Isles  and  the  Northern  Picts,  crossing  the  Grampians 
in  his  travels,  and  perhaps  going  as  far  North  as 
the  Orkney  Islands. 

St.  Ninian,  or,  as  the  name  sometimes  appears, 
St.  Pinian  or  Ringan,  was  born  about  the  year 
360.  His  birthplace  is  uncertain  ;  but  it  is 
probable  that  he  was  of  noble  birth,  and  one  of 
the  old  stock  of  the  land.  He  is  said  to  have 
made  his  way  to  Rome,  which  is  not  improbable ; 

96 


Mediaeval  Missions 

although  one  of  the  weaknesses  of  the  monkish 
annalists  is  to  relate  everything  to  Eome  and 
Romish  influence  in  the  most  uncritical  fashion. 
On  his  return  from  the  Continent,  about  the 
beginning  of  the  fifth  century,  he  landed  in 
Galloway,  and  there  built,  with  the  help  of  masons 
he  brought  with  him,  what  was  the  first  stone 
church  in  Scotland.  Because  of  its  glittering 
appearance,  this  building  was  called  the  Candida 
casa,  or  white  house,  which,  in  Saxon  was 
Hwitherne,  or,  as  it  is  now,  Whithorn,  the  centre 
from  which  Ninian's  influence  mostly  radiated, 
and  round  which  his  fame  mainly  gathers.  From 
his  white  house  he  wandered  far  and  near  on  his 
errands  of  evangelisation,  getting  at  least  as  far 
North  as  Perthshire. 

The  old  Romans  have  left  camps  and  walls  to 
tell  of  their  presence  in  the  cold,  stern  regions  of 
Caledonia.  Ninian  has  left  churches  and  wells 
and  even  villages  to  bear  his  name.  There  are 
no  fewer  than  twenty-five  Churches  which  have 
thus  borne  his  name  and  perpetuated  his  work 
and  worth  throughout  the  districts  in  which  he 
laboured.  When  he  died,  in  432,  he  left  behind 
him  a  noble  monument  of  his  heroism  and  faith 
in  the  Picts  whom  he  won  for  his  Lord ;  and 
although  his  memory  fades  away  into  the  shadowy 
past,  his  work  endures  and  will  endure  for  ever. 

N.E,_7  97 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

For  ages  after  his  death  bands  of  pilgrims  were 
wont  to  resort  annually  to  his  shrine  at  Whithorn, 
among  those  who  went  in  1474  being  no  less  a  lady 
than  the  wife  of  James  iii.  In  1507,  James  iv. 
himself  made  the  pilgrimage  on  foot  that  he  might 
pray  for  the  recovery  of  his  wife,  testify  his  resig- 
nation to  the  death  of  his  two  infant  children, 
and  express  his  penitence  for  his  rebellion  against 
his  father.  To  this  day,  on  the  seashore  about 
two  miles  from  Whithorn,  a  cave  is  pointed  out 
as  the  place  where  Ninian  lodged,  and  it  is  now 
scheduled  as  a  national  monument. 

During  the  eighty  years  which  elapsed  between 
the  death  of  Ninian  and  the  birth  of  Kentigern, 
two  other  names  appear  in  the  story  of  Scottish 
Missionary  enterprise  which  deserve  mention. 
The  first  is  that  of  Palladius,  whose  memory 
survives  at  Fordoun  in  the  Mearns,  where  there 
is  not  only  Paldy's  Well,  but  Paldy's  Fair.  The 
other  is  that  of  Servanus,  or  Serf,  as  he  is  more 
familiarly  called.  He  appears  to  have  been  the 
head  of  a  sort  of  Missionary  institute  from  which 
trained  evangelists  went  forth  into  the  surrounding 
darkness  to  tell  of  the  love  of  the  Eedeemer. 
He  carried  on  his  work  first  of  all  at  Culross  on 
the  Forth,  and  then  on  an  island  in  Loch  Leven 
which  still  bears  his  name. 

One  day  in  the  year  514,  while  the  Mission 
98 


Mediaeval  Missions 

school  was  still  at  Culross,  a  small  boat  was 
driven  ashore  with  one  solitary,  terror-stricken 
occupant,  the  daughter  of  a  Pictish  chief,  who  had 
broken  the  seventh  commandment,  and  had  been 
cast  adrift  for  her  offences  to  perish  in  the  stormy 
waters  of  the  North  Sea.  St.  Serf  received  her 
in  a  kindly  fashion,  and  by  and  by  the  son  to 
whom  she  gave  birth  was  baptized  Kentigern, 
which  means  a  chief  lord. 

The  boy  grew  up  in  the  community  of  the 
Missionaries,  and  Serf's  pet  name  for  him,  Munghu, 
"My  dear  one,"  gave  rise  to  Mungo,  that  other 
name  by  which  he  is  now  known.  Along  with 
the  others  there,  he  shared  in  the  training  of  the 
school ;  and  when  his  training  was  over  he  went 
out  like  the  rest,  with  the  love  of  Christ  in  his 
valiant  young  heart,  to  tell  the  story  of  salvation 
to  others.  He  set  his  face  towards  the  South, 
and  settled  by  the  banks  of  the  river  Clyde,  with 
which  his  memory  is  so  much  bound  up.  When 
he  was  twenty-six  years  old,  he  had  to  flee  from 
Strathclyde  for  a  time,  and  betook  himself  to 
Wales,  and  there  also  his  work  is  still  com- 
memorated. In  560,  however,  he  was  back  again 
in  his  old  quarters,  bringing  new  workers  and 
scholars  with  him  ;  and  for  forty  years  he  laboured 
there  with  much  success,  dying  in  the  fulness  of 
years  in  601. 

99 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

Those  who  are  familiar  with  the  Glasgow  coat 
of  arms  will  remember  that  it  consists  of  a  tree 
with  a  bird  on  it,  a  bell,  and  a  salmon  with 
a  ring  in  its  mouth.  All  these  are  connected 
with  Kentigern's  career,  and  afford  a  happy- 
instance  of  how  the  legendary  and  the  historical 
have  been  mixed  up  in  the  record  of  these  early 
ages,  and  how  needful  it  is  to  use  many  grains 
of  salt  when  we  deal  with  them.  The  bird  has 
reference  to  an  incident  in  the  Missionary's  school- 
days. One  of  his  comrades  had  killed  a  robin 
redbreast,  and  had  thrown  the  dead  bird  into  his 
lap  in  order  to  incriminate  him.  But  his  innocence 
was  marvellously  displayed.  The  bird  came  to  life 
again  rather  than  that  he  should  suffer  unjustly, 
and  from  his  shoulder  it  poured  forth  its  song  of 
praise  and  vindication.  The  tree  has  a  double 
reference.  By  itself  it  tells  of  another  miracle, 
when  one  frosty  night  the  saint  was  saved  from 
perishing  of  cold  through  fire  being  breathed  into 
a  frozen  tree.  But  taken  along  with  the  bell, 
it  tells  of  his  calling  the  people  to  the  worship 
of  the  true  God  by  means  of  a  bell  swung  on  a 
tree  in  a  clearing  in  the  primaeval  Caledonian 
woods.  The  fish  with  the  ring  in  its  mouth  tells 
of  a  time  when  a  ring  was  imperatively  required  to 
vindicate  injured  innocence,  and  was  miraculously 
found  in  a  salmon  which  he  drew  from  the  Clyde. 

100 


Mediaeval  Missions 

This  halo  of  the  miraculous  is  not  the  only 
indication  that  already  the  superstitions  of  Rome 
were  beginning  to  rival  the  superstitions  of  the 
heathen.  Even  if  we  distinguish  between  the 
evangelists  and  their  biographers,  who  represent  a 
later  age,  we  can  see  how  the  mystery  of  iniquity 
was  at  work  even  in  the  far-off  Mission  field,  and 
among  those  who  were  at  the  very  front  and  right 
in  the  firing  line.  The  asceticism  which  Kentigern 
is  said  to  have  practised  is  but  one  out  of  many 
proofs  of  this.  His  bed,  we  are  told,  was  a 
hollow  stone,  and  at  the  second  cock-crowing  he 
rose  to  plunge  himself  into  the  cold,  rapid  stream 
in  summer  and  winter  alike — there  to  recite  from 
the  Book  of  Psalms.  No  wonder  he  had  power 
over  the  savages  accustomed  to  yield  to  every 
appetite  and  impulse ;  but  it  was  not  the  highest 
kind  of  power,  inasmuch  as  it  was  not  purely 
spiritual,  and  such  practices  had  in  them  the 
elements  of  decay.  Asceticism,  however  im- 
pressive it  may  be,  is  not  Christianity.  The 
service  of  the  Lord  Jesus  is  not  emaciation, 
but  righteousness  and  peace  and  joy  in  the  Holy 
Ghost. 

St.  Columba,  the  third  of  the  three  mighty  men, 
was  born  in  Ireland  in  the  wilds  of  Donegal  in 
the  year  521.  The  royalty  of  two  lines  united 
in  him ;   and  had  his  ambitious  been  worldly,  he 

lOI 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

might  have  made  his  way  to  a  throne.  His 
mother,  however,  was  a  godly  woman,  and  early 
imbued  her  child  with  a  love  for  Scripture  which 
he  never  lost.  He  soon  gave  indications  of  the 
strength  of  character  and  the  thirst  for  purity 
which  distinguished  him  in  later  years.  From 
the  first  he  devoted  himself  to  Missionary  enter- 
prise, and  attended  the  great  schools  at  Moville, 
Clonmel,  and  Glasnevin,  which  even  at  that  early 
period  flourished  in  the  Isle  of  the  Saints.  He 
not  only  studied  theology  there,  but  music  as 
well ;  and  it  is  not  unlikely  that  his  powers  as 
a  bard,  poet,  and  singer  in  one  had  more  to  do 
with  his  magnetic  influence  in  later  years  than 
even  his  preaching  had. 

Before  he  was  twenty-five  he  had  been  set  apart 
first  as  a  deacon  and  then  as  a  presbyter ;  and 
before  he  crossed  to  Scotland  he  had  founded 
monasteries  in  Derry  and  elsewhere.  It  must  be 
borne  in  mind,  however,  that  there  was  little 
resemblance  between  the  institutions  which  he 
organised  and  what  were  known  as  monasteries 
in  the  Church  of  Rome  as  mediaevalism  developed 
and  the  monastic  orders  multiplied,  Columba's 
monasteries,  alike  in  Ireland  and  Scotland,  were 
the  headquarters  of  men  who  had  consecrated 
themselves  to  the  work  of  evangelisation,  and 
were  there  to  be  trained  or  to  help  to  train  others 

102 


Mediaeval  Missions 

for  service.  They  were  Mission  institutes  and 
divinity  halls  in  one.  They  were  schools  of  the 
prophets,  and  Bible  Societies  in  addition.  Far 
from  being  places  to  which  men  fled  who  were 
seeking  to  abandon  the  world  to  itself,  they  were 
the  temporary  retreats  of  those  who  had  put 
themselves  into  the  Lord's  hands  to  go  wherever 
He  might  send  them.  The  ascetic  spirit  was  all 
that  was  common  to  the  two  kinds  of  monasteries  ; 
but,  unfortunately,  it  was  through  that  spirit  that 
the  healthy  Evangelical  communities  which  men 
like  Columba  founded  gradually  degenerated  until 
they  became  hotbeds  of  indolence  and  all  that 
indolence  brings. 

But  that  evil  consummation  was  still  centuries 
distant  when,  on  a  May  morning  in  563,  an  open 
boat  made  of  wicker  covered  with  hides  left  Loch 
Foyle  for  the  shores  of  Scotland.  It  was  a  war 
galley,  but  it  carried  neither  sword  nor  spear.  It 
had  instead  some  blacksmith's  and  carpenter's 
tools,  some  implements  of  husbandry,  some  fishing 
nets,  and  a  handmill,  along  with  a  sack  or  two 
of  barley  for  food,  and  as  much  for  seed.  There 
was  also  a  leather  bottle  full  of  milk,  and  another 
with  water.  Besides  that,  there  were  some  manu- 
script copies  of  the  Scriptures  and  a  hymn-book, 
with  some  parchment  and  pens  and  ink. 

There  were  thirteen  men  on  board,  all  of  them 

10^ 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

men  of  education  and  kinsmen  of  their  leader. 
Those  who  were  not  barefooted  wore  shoes  of  hide, 
and  their  clothes  were  of  undyed  wool.  Their 
chief  was  a  man  at  whom  we  do  well  to  look,  as 
a  type  of  the  noblest  Missionaries  of  the  Cross. 
He  was  forty  years  of  age,  and  of  great  strength 
and  stature.  His  voice  could  be  heard  above 
the  noise  of  the  storm  more  than  a  mile  away  ; 
and  when  he  sang  the  Psalms  of  David,  they 
echoed  down  the  glens  like  the  sound  of  a  distant 
waterfall.  His  grey  eye  could  be  soft  as  the  dew 
of  the  morning,  but  it  could  also  flash  like  the 
lightning  out  of  the  thunder-cloud.  He  was  a 
born  leader  of  men,  who  inspired  the  respect  of 
all  who  knew  him,  and  who  was  profoundly  loved 
by  those  who  knew  him  as  companion  and 
friend. 

The  tradition  is  that  these  warm-hearted  Irish- 
men had  determined  that  wherever  they  went 
they  must  be  out  of  sight  of  the  land  they  loved 
so  well.  They  could  not  settle,  therefore,  in 
Kintyre,  for  there  the  far-distant  shores  of  Erin 
were  still  visible.  Even  when  they  passed  on 
to  Isle  Oronsay,  the  faint  outline  of  the  land  of 
their  birth  could  still  be  seen.  And  so  they 
came  to  lona,  that  island  which  has  been  famous 
ever  since  as  their  home  and  the  centre  of  their 
blessed  campaigns  for  Christ   and  Scotland.     Dr. 

104 


Mediaeval  Missions 

Johnson  spoke  of  it  as  "that  illustrious  island 
which  was  once  the  luminary  of  the  Caledonian 
regions,  whence  savage  clans  and  roving  barbarians 
derived  the  benefits  of  knowledge  and  the  bless- 
ings of  religion."  And,  as  he  adds,  "  that  man  is 
little  to  be  envied  w^hose  patriotism  would  not  gain 
force  upon  the  plains  of  Marathon,  or  whose  piety 
would  not  grow  warmer  amid  the  ruins  of  lona. 

Columba's  coracle  had  been  borne  thither  by 
the  winds  and  the  waves,  but  God's  hand  was 
on  the  helm.  The  island  was  peculiarly  adapted 
for  the  work  which  these  Missionaries  had  to 
face.  It  was  free  from  many  of  the  dangers  of 
the  mainland  in  these  dark  days,  when  war  was 
not  the  exception  but  the  rule.  It  kept  them 
apart  and  free  for  the  study  of  the  Word  and 
for  the  transcription  of  copies  of  the  sacred 
oracles.  For  lona  was  a  Bible  Institute,  as  well 
as  a  Theological  College  and  Missionary  head- 
quarters. Nor  could  any  spot  then  have  been 
better  adapted  for  the  training  of  those  who 
were  to  adventure  themselves  in  search  of  new 
worlds  to  conquer  for  their  Lord.  It  was  a 
splendid  centre  for  men  who  could  brave  the 
stormiest  seas.  Thus  it  was  that  ere  long  we 
find  Missionaries  from  lona  passing  from  point 
to  point  all  along  the  Western  coasts,  as  far 
North  as  the  Orkneys,  establishing  a  network  of 

105 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

Christian  agencies  and  civilising  influences  wherever 
they  went.  They  went  Southwards,  too,  and  the 
Angles  and  Saxons  of  Northern  England  shared 
in  the  light  which  streamed  from  the  island 
sanctuary. 

Before  Columba  died,  his  fame  had  spread  as 
far  as  Gaul,  and  even  beyond  the  Alps.  As  for 
Scotland  and  his  work  there,  no  fewer  than 
fifty- three  places  have  wells  or  churches  which 
bear  testimony  to  the  extent  and  the  beneficence 
of  his  labours.  For  thirty-four  years  the  great 
evangelist  laboured  in  lona,  training  workers 
for  the  service  which  lay  so  near  his  heart,  with 
occasional  interruptions  when  he  journeyed  to 
found  new  churches  or  to  encourage  those  already 
planted.  Tradition  asserts  that  in  the  year  584 
he  visited  Kentigern,  and  saw  how  the  work  in 
the  West  was  progressing. 

His  first  great  journey  seems  to  have  been  to 
Inverness,  the  fortress  of  Brude,  King  of  the 
Northern  Picts.  Columba  knew  that  if  the  king 
could  be  won  the  subjects  would  follow,  for  in  these 
cruder  days  that  was  a  matter  of  course.  That  is 
one  reason  for  the  fact  that  throughout  these  early 
ages  provinces  which  were  Christian  in  one  genera- 
tion became  pagan  the  next.  That  simply  meant 
that  a  Julian  had  succeeded  a  Constantine,  that  a 
pagan   chief   had    followed  one  who  had  at   least 

1 06 


Mediaeval  Missions 

declared  himself  a  Christian.  This  feature  of 
the  situation  tends  to  introduce  an  element  of 
unreality  which  is  sometimes  very  disconcerting. 
Yet  there  was  true  work  for  God  going  on  apart 
from  the  conversion  of  chiefs,  apparent  or  real,  and 
work  was  being  done  which  has  endured  from  then 
till  now. 

Columba  was  successful  in  winning  Brude  to  the 
new  ways,  and  all  his  wide  domain  was  opened  to 
the  itinerant  preachers  of  the  Gospel.  Columba 
for  one  took  full  advantage  of  the  open  doors. 
On  foot  he  penetrated  the  glens  and  straths  and 
crossed  the  hills  wherever  heathen  families  were 
to  be  found,  proclaiming  his  message  of  the  re- 
deeming love  of  God.  Scotland  has  seldom  if 
ever  had  a  preacher  so  well  fitted  for  this  work. 
A  princely  presence,  a  joyous  countenance,  a  mag- 
nificent voice,  a  graceful  manner  as  of  one  used  to 
courts,  an  extraordinary  knowledge  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, strong  faith  in  God,  and  intense  sympathy 
with  men — he  was  an  ideal  preacher  of  Christ.  And, 
like  Luther  and  Wesley,  and  many  another  of  the 
same  build,  he  was  more  than  a  Missionary — or 
rather,  he  was  a  Missionary  of  the  supreme  kind. 
He  was  a  leader  of  men,  who  inspired  others  with 
his  ideals  and  sent  them  out  to  do  work  like  his 
own.  He  was  a  born  organiser,  a  man  of  a  con- 
structive genius,  who  laid  the  foundations  deep  and 

107 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

broad  for  the  perpetuation  of  the  work  after  he  and 
his  immediate  disciples  were  gone. 

New  centres,  with  lona  as  their  model,  sprang 
up  in  many  places.  Bands  of  devoted  Christians 
occupied  the  strategic  points  ;  and  such  was  the 
universal  confidence  in  Columba's  wisdom,  and  so 
great  his  influence,  that  so  long  as  he  lived  he 
could  deal  as  he  pleased  with  those  in  command  at 
these  centres.  He  was  only  a  presbyter  in  name, 
but  in  deed  and  in  truth  he  was  a  true  bishop ; 
for  bishop  means  an  overseer,  and  by  the  Divine 
right  to  rule,  which  can  never  be  really  gainsaid,  he 
guided  and  regulated  the  whole.  The  tools  belong 
to  the  man  who  can  use  them. 

As  the  end  drew  near,  he  was  privileged  to  see 
much  of  the  fruit  of  his  labours.  In  563  he  had 
found  lona  practically  a  desert  island.  In  597  he 
left  it  crowded  with  those  who  had  offered  them- 
selves freely  as  living  sacrifices  to  God,  and  a  centre 
from  which  trained  workers  were  constantly  going 
forth  to  serve  in  many  a  land.  In  563  he  had 
found  Scotland  all  but  pagan  ;  the  work  of  Ninian 
almost  forgotten,  that  of  Kentigern  just  begun.  In 
597  he  left  it  largely  under  the  influence  of  Chris- 
tian truth,  and  in  many  parts  actually  won  for 
Christ.  He  had  not  only  sown  good  seed,  but  he 
had  seen  the  first-fruits  of  the  great  and  gracious 
harvest. 

io8 


Mediaeval  Missions 

His  biographer  Adamnan  makes  him  say  good- 
bye to  the  scene  of  his  labours  in  memorable  and 
prophetic  words  :  "  Unto  this  place,  albeit  it  is 
small  and  poor,  great  homage  shall  yet  be  paid,  not 
only  by  the  kings  and  people  of  the  Scots,  but  by 
the  rulers  of  the  barbarous  and  distant  nations 
"^ith  their  people  also.  In  great  veneration  too  it 
shall  be  held  by  the  holy  men  of  other  churches." 
The  work  in  lona  went  on  for  long  after  he  passed 
to  his  rest ;  but  prosperity  brought  wealth  and 
luxury,  and  by  and  by  superstition  brought  decay, 
until  at  last  the  light  all  but  died  out,  and  reforma- 
tion of  the  most  drastic  sort  was  urgently  required. 
The  corruption  of  the  best  becomes  the  worst. 

This  story  of  these  old  Scottish  Missionaries  has 
been  told  with  some  detail  because  it  is  typical  of 
what  was  going  on  at  all  the  outposts  of  Europe 
among  Goths  and  Huns,  among  Celts  and 
Slavs,  among  Germans  and  Scandinavians.  It  is 
typical,  indeed,  not  only  of  the  devotion,  self- 
sacrifice,  and  success  of  the  Missionaries,  but  also 
of  the  ultimate  corruption  and  decay  which  ensued. 
It  was  through  men  like  Ninian  and  Columba  that 
all  Middle  and  Northern  Europe  were  won  from 
paganism  ;  and  even  as  lona  came  under  the  papal 
blight  in  the  ages  which  followed,  so  it  was  every- 
where after  the  Missionary  enthusiasm  had  died 
out  and  popery  was  developed. 

109 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

Never  has  there  been  such  a  gigantic  object- 
lesson  in  the  power  of  pagan  conceptions  and 
practices  to  poison  the  very  springs  of  the  Church 
and  to  sap  its  strength,  as  was  given  on  a  large 
scale  during  these  centuries  when  the  light  so 
marvellously  kindled  was  almost  quenched.  In 
the  long  doctrinal  conflicts  which  followed  the 
Imperial  recognition,  orthodoxy  won  as  against 
Arianism  and  other  heresies ;  but  by  and  by  she 
went  down  before  her  still  more  insidious  foes — 
her  old  enemies,  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the 
devil. 

Even  in  the  most  modern  Mission  enterprise, 
this  object-lesson  should  be  borne  in  mind ;  for  the 
same  enemies  are  busy  yet — as  busy  as  ever  they 
were.  It  has  to  be  borne  in  mind,  too,  that  many 
of  the  European  peoples  received  the  truth  through 
corrupt  channels,  and  that  the  Gospel  came  to  them 
after  the  deterioration  at  the  centre  had  begun. 
The  first  inroad  on  the  heathenism  of  Iceland,  for 
example,  was  not  made  till  981,  and  it  was  even 
later  than  that  before  Greenland  was  invaded  by 
the  Christian  Missionary.  Many  of  the  Vikings 
carried  home  the  tidings  of  the  new  and  strange 
faith  with  which  they  had  come  into  contact  in 
their  wars  and  wanderings,  and  that  was  how  the 
Norsemen  first  heard  the  Good  News.  The  intro- 
duction   of    the   Gospel    among   the    Poles    and 

I  lO 


Mediaeval  Missions 

Hungarians  did  not  take  place  till  the  tenth 
century ;  and  it  was  as  late  as  the  twelfth  century 
when  it  was  introduced  among  the  Pomeranians, 
the  Finns,  and  the  Lithuanians. 

Nor  can  it  be  denied  that  some  of  the  latter- 
day  Missionaries  made  it  only  too  obvious  that  they 
themselves  had  come  under  the  influence  of  the  re- 
actionary forces  which  were  by  this  time  at  work 
everywhere,  although  doubtless  many  of  them 
were  better  than  their  theories.  They  were  often 
characterised  by  Romanising  zeal,  rather  than  by 
yearning  to  win  souls  for  Christ ;  and  they  had 
nothing  but  bitter  opposition  for  the  simpler  and 
uncorrupted  forms  of  the  faith  when  they  came  into 
contact  with  them.  They  would  have  no  fellow- 
ship, for  example,  with  married  priests,  but  called 
them  adulterers  ;  and  they  constantly  affirmed  that 
there  could  be  no  real  union  with  Christ  apart 
from  union  with  the  Roman  See.  Nor  were  they 
averse  in  many  cases  to  avail  themselves  of  the 
arm  of  flesh  for  the  extension  of  the  Kingdom  of 
Him  who  had  specifically  forbidden  the  use  of  the 
sword  for  such  an  end.  Some  of  these  emissaries 
of  Christianity,  indeed,  were  warriors  rather  than 
Missionaries  ;  a  fatal  fact,  since  here  if  anywhere 
force  is  no  remedy,  and  they  w^ho  use  the  sword 
perish  by  the  sword. 

Long  before  the  Reformation,  Missionary  zeal  in 
1 1 1 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

the  ordinary  sense  of  the  term  had  disappeared 
from  the  earth  ;  and  it  is  hardly  possible  to  recog- 
nise the  faith  or  practice  of  Paul  or  Polycarp 
in  the  superstructure  of  superstition  with  which 
they  had  by  that  time  been  overlaid.  Yet,  if  once 
we  admit  the  pagan  sacerdotal  conception  that  the 
Christian  minister  is  a  sacrificing  priest,  who  can 
stand  between  immortal  souls  and  their  God,  and 
can  pronounce  absolution  of  their  sins,  it  is  com- 
paratively easy  to  account  for  all  that  grew  out 
of  it.  Historians  have  indeed  traced  the  various 
stages  of  the  monstrous  growth.  Yet  care  must 
be  taken  to  avoid  exaggeration  even  here.  There 
were  always  some  who  were  faithful  at  heart  even 
during  these  centuries  of  apostasy  and  decay.  All 
through  the  Dark  Ages  there  were  simple,  loyal 
souls  who  kept  the  fire  burning  on  the  altar  and 
were  true  to  their  Saviour  King  ;  and  ever  and 
anon  the  smouldering  embers  burst  out  into  a 
blaze  which  presaged  better  and  brighter  days. 
Although  the  Church  was  grieving  and  even 
quenching  the  Holy  Ghost,  He  was  working  in 
society,  in  the  nobler  aspirations  of  humanity,  in 
many  movements  of  thought,  in  poetry  and  art ; 
and  the  reception  given  to  the  Evangel  when  it 
was  proclaimed  by  men  like  Wyclif  and  Luther, 
Zwingli  and  Knox,  showed  that  there  were  many 
who  had  never  bowed  the  knee  to  Baal,  and  very 

112 


Mediaeval  Missions 

many  whose  hearts  were  crying  out  for  the  living 
God. 

Dark  as  the  Dark  Ages  were,  they  were  not  per- 
haps quite  so  dark  as  some  imagine.  There  are 
Romish  writers  who  look  back  on  the  pre-Reforma- 
tion  era  as  full  of  unity  and  beauty  and  peace,  an 
age  of  faith ;  and  there  are  writers  in  the  other 
camp  who  see  nothing  in  Mediaeval  Europe  save  the 
weird  fact  that  the  mystery  of  iniquity  was  now 
fully  manifested,  that  the  Catholic  Church  was  no 
longer  Catholic,  that  the  Holy  Church  no  longer  even 
presupposed  that  her  priests  should  be  clean,  and 
that  the  Apostolic  Church  had  turned  her  back  on 
almost  everything  characteristic  of  those  who  had 
seen  the  Lord. 

Yet  there  were  rays  of  light  here  and  there 
among  the  shadows ;  and  when  we  turn,  for  example, 
from  the  ecclesiastical  arena  to  such  a  writer  as 
Marco  Polo,  the  greatest  of  the  mediaeval  travellers, 
it  is  impossible  not  to  rejoice  in  what  was  being 
done  in  the  worst  times  to  make  the  Gospel 
known  to  the  heathen,  even  if  it  was  being  made 
known  in  somewhat  strange  ways.  In  his  memor- 
able pictures  of  South  Indian  manners  and  modes 
of  life,  he  tells  about  the  Christians  of  St.  Thomas, 
the  native  church  of  India,  and  of  the  Thomas 
shrine,  "  where  few  traders  to-day  go,  but  many 
pilgrims." 

N.E.— 8  I  1 3 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

As  for  Socotra,  he  reports  that  the  people  were 
Nestorian  Christians,  with  a  bishop  of  their  own  in- 
dependent of  Rome,  and  subject  to  the  Archbishop 
or  Patriarch  of  Bagdad,  whose  diocese  stretched 
from  Socotra  to  the  Sea  of  China.  These  Nestorian 
Christians  of  Socotra  continued,  in  ever-deepening 
corruption,  till  the  seventeenth  century,  when 
Islam  took  possession.  Marco  Polo  has  also  some- 
thing to  tell  of  the  Christians  of  Abyssinia  ;  nor  is 
he  the  only  traveller  who  has  light  to  throw  on 
our  theme. 

At  the  very  time  when  he  was  passing  through 
the  Southern  seas,  the  Friar  John  of  Monte 
Corvino,  the  Missionary  founder  of  the  Latin 
churches  in  India  and  China,  was  staying  in  the 
Deccan.  The  Dominicans  penetrated  to  Tiflis 
about  1240.  In  1260  the  Pope  corresponded  as 
a  Father  in  God  with  Hulagu,  the  conqueror  of 
the  Abbasids.  In  1318,  in  spite  of  the  triumphs 
of  Islam,  which  was  destined  to  triumph  still 
more,  we  read  of  the  inauguration  of  a  complete 
Persian  hierarchy.  And  efforts  of  the  same 
sort,  more  or  less  Missionary,  were  being  made 
among  others  of  the  Far  Eastern  peoples.  In 
China,  for  example,  where  Nestorian  Missionaries 
had  established  a  flourishing  church  in  the 
seventh  and  eighth  centuries,  inroads  were  being 
made. 

114 


Mediaeval  Missions 

In  1278,  while  the  travellers,  the  Polos,  were 
still  in  China,  Pope  Nicolas  iii.  dispatched  a 
religious  Mission  to  Tartary  of  which  nothing  is 
now  known  beyond  the  fact  of  its  organisation 
and  the  text  of  its  credentials.  In  1291,  Monte 
Corvino  set  out  for  Cathay,  and  his  second  extant 
letter,  dated  from  Cambaluc  or  Peking  in  1305, 
tells  how  he  had  already  laboured  there  for 
eleven  years  alone  in  the  Celestial  Empire,  and 
how  in  1303  he  had  received  a  colleague  in 
Friar  Arnold  of  Cologne.  His  only  other  extant 
letter,  which  was  written  probably  in  February 
1308,  has  a  fine  record  of  steady  progress. 
Buildings  had  been  erected,  more  than  five 
thousand  baptisms  had  taken  place,  and  the 
Khan  was  desirous  that  the  Roman  authorities 
should  send  an  official  embassy  to  the  Flowery 
Land. 

In  the  spring  of  1307,  Monte  Corvino  was 
made  Archbishop  of  Peking,  and  seven  bishops 
were  dispatched  to  be  his  suffragans  in  the 
further  work  of  converting  Cathay.  Three  of 
these  reached  China  in  1308.  The  best  days  of 
the  China  Mission  of  that  era  came  to  an  end 
with  the  death  of  its  founder  in  1328  ;  but  when 
the  news  of  his  decease  reached  Europe  in  1333, 
a  successor  was  appointed,  and  he  set  out  for  his 
post  with  twenty  monks  and  six  laymen.     It  is 

"5 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

not  known,  however,  whether  they  ever  reached 
their  destination ;  the  one  thing  really  beyond 
doubt  being  that  the  Chinese  national  reaction, 
which  broke  out  about  1368,  put  an  end  for 
centuries  to  Western  Christianity  and  Euroj)ean 
trade  in  the  Middle  Kingdom. 

This  story,  however,  throws  some  light  on  what 
was  going  on  even  in  these  dark  ages  which  were  not 
wholly  dark.  Low  as  the  fire  might  burn,  it  never 
quite  went  out ;  nor  was  the  flickering  light  ever 
altogether  quenched.  The  true  spiritual  ancestry 
of  the  Missionaries  of  modern  times  is  to  be  found 
in  the  humble,  faithful  men  and  women,  all  through 
the  ages,  who  had  the  new  life  in  their  hearts,  and 
never  quite  abandoned  the  ideal  that  all  the  world 
should  be  won  for  Christ. 

Attempts  have  been  made  to  state  in  figures 
the  progress  which  was  made  by  the  Gospel 
during  these  long,  dreary  ages,  which  saw  the 
inroads  of  the  barbarians  and  the  breaking  up  of 
the  Empire  into  Eastern  and  Western  ;  the  appear- 
ance of  Mohammedanism  as  a  great  menace  to 
Christianity,  and  its  ultimate  conquest  of  the 
Eastern  Empire ;  the  development  and  decay  of 
feudalism ;  and  the  formation  of  the  nations  of 
Europe  very  much  as  we  have  them  now.  Start- 
ing from  Gibbon  s  most  inadequate  estimate  that 
there   were    6,000,000   Christians   in  the   Empire 

ii6 


Mediaeval  Missions 

when  the  Edict  of  Milan  appeared  in  313,  it  is 
calculated  that  by  the  end  of  the  fourth  century 
there  were  10,000,000  ;  by  the  end  of  the  eighth 
century,  30,000,000 ;  by  the  end  of  the  tenth 
century,  50,000,000 ;  and  by  the  end  of  the 
fifteenth  century,  100,000,000.  But  such  specu- 
lations are  of  little  value,  especially  when  we 
bear  in  mind  what  we  have  seen  as  to  how 
little  Christianity  sometimes  meant  by  the  year 
1500.  The  same  statisticians  calculate  that  there 
are  now  some  500,000,000  of  Christians,  or  well- 
nigh  one  in  three  of  the  world-population ;  and 
each  can  judge  for  himself  how  far  it  is  true, 
in  any  worthy  sense  of  the  term,  even  of  the 
homelands,  that  one  in  three  can  be  accounted 
genuine  followers  of  Christ,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
proportion  which  may  fairly  be  claimed  in  the 
regions  beyond. 

All  that  can  be  said  with  safety,  as  the  result 
of  what  had  been  achieved  during  the  centuries 
from  Constantine  to  Luther,  is  that  in  the 
sixteenth  century  all  Europe  was  nominally 
Christian,  with  the  exception  of  Turkey ;  that 
the  lands  which  witnessed  the  first  triumphs  of 
the  Cross  were  now  buried  under  the  drifting 
sands  of  the  religion  of  the  false  prophet;  and 
that  under  the  prevalent  ignorance  and  super- 
stition  there   were   many   loyal  souls   who   were 

117 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

truly  united  to  Christ  through  repentance  and 
faith.  This  also  may  be  affirmed  with  safety, 
that  when  in  God's  grace  the  Reformation  came, 
it  was  necessary  beyond  the  power  of  words 
to  portray. 


ii8 


CHAPTER   V 

THE   REFORMATION  AND 
MISSIONS 


119 


"  If  any  man  will  do  His  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine." 
—John  7.  17. 

"  Every  man  has  the  defects  of  his  qualities." — French  Saying. 

"  The  whole  moral  effect  which  is  produced  nowadays  by  the 
religious  newspaper,  the  tract,  the  essay,  the  sermon,  was  then 
produced  by  the  Bible  alone.  ...  A  new  conception  of  life  and  of 
man  superseded  the  old.  A  new  moral  and  religious  impulse 
spread  through  every  class." — J.  R.  Green. 


I  20 


CHAPTER  V 

THE   REFORMATION   AND   MISSIONS 

TT  is  quite  beyond  question  that  the  Reformation 
-*-  in  the  sixteenth  century  was  the  greatest 
event  in  the  history  of  the  Christian  Church  since 
the  earthly  ministry  of  our  Lord.  It  was  a 
revival  of  heart  -  religion  so  far  -  reaching  and 
widespread,  and  withal  so  absolutely  necessary, 
that  it  renewed  the  face  of  Europe  as  nothing 
else  has  ever  done.  There  have  been  revivals 
since,  and  especially  the  revival  with  which  the 
nineteenth  century  began ;  but  there  has  been 
nothing  so  widespread  in  its  beneficent  results  or 
at  all  so  momentous.  It  is  the  yearning  hope 
of  some  and  the  heartfelt  prayer  of  many  more, 
that  this  new  era  of  ours  will  call  us  to  some- 
thing even  grander  and  more  universal. 

In  the  sixteenth  century  Europe  was  susceptible 
to  a  catholic  uplifting  as  she  has  never  been 
since.  St.  Andrews  and  Aberdeen  were  then 
ruled   from   the  same   centre   as  Canterbury  and 

121 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

York ;  Frankfort  and  Copenhagen  obeyed  the 
same  ecclesiastical  lords  as  Vienna  and  Marseilles. 
This  universal  system  had  led  to  the  same  kind 
of  abuses  in  every  land ;  for  in  all  alike  the 
greed  and  corruption  of  Rome  were  felt  and 
resented,  and  in  all  alike  the  godly  and  sincere 
had  been  alienated  from  the  Vatican  and  pre- 
pared for  the  Reformation.  The  English  scholar 
and  the  Scottish  peasant,  the  German  merchant 
and  the  Swiss  shepherd,  the  Flemish  weaver  and 
the  French  noble,  had  all  alike  suffered  from  the 
papal  system ;  and  every  nation  in  Christendom 
had  grievances  hard  to  be  borne,  against  the 
ignorant,  licentious  priests  and  friars  who  swarmed 
everywhere. 

Nor  should  it  be  forgotten,  in  connection  with 
the  reach  of  the  movement  for  reform,  that  all 
Europe  had  then  one  literary  language,  which 
scholars  everywhere  read  and  spoke.  So  truly 
indeed  was  Europe  one  and  indivisible  then,  as 
it  never  has  been  since,  in  virtue  of  its  common 
faith  and  grievances,  and  its  common  literary 
medium,  that  at  times  it  almost  seemed  as  if 
the  Reformation  might  renew  every  part  of  the 
Roman  Church.  When  the  first  great  shock  of 
battle,  however,  was  over,  it  was  found  that  it 
had  triumphed  only  among  the  Germanic  or 
Teutonic    peoples,    and    had    won    the    Germans 

122 


The  Reformation  and  Missions 

and  the  Swiss,  the  Danes  and  the  English,  the 
Scots  and  the  Dutch.  On  the  other  hand,  Rome 
had  kept  for  obscurantism  the  great  Latin  or 
Romance  peoples,  the  French  and  Spanish,  the 
Italians  and  the  Austrians.  Not  only  so,  but 
the  line  still  remains  where  it  was  drawn  then. 
The  progressive  peoples  became  Protestant,  and 
are  Protestant  yet ;  or  perhaps  it  might  be 
better  put  that  the  Protestant  peoples  have 
proved  themselves  progressive,  while  the  others 
have  continued  to  be  superstitious  and  decadent. 

It  is  only  when  it  is  seen  how  distinctively 
the  Reformation  was  a  religious  movement,  a  vast 
and  widespread  revival  of  true  heart-religion, 
that  it  is  possible  to  understand  what  its 
principles  really  were  or  why  it  took  the  course 
it  did.  When  the  Holy  Ghost  works  in  human 
souls,  He  creates  a  longing  for  freedom  from  sin, 
a  yearning  not  merely  for  pardon  but  for  holi- 
ness— for  likeness  to  Christ,  that  is.  But  in 
the  Church  of  Rome,  after  the  mystery  of  iniquity 
was  complete,  no  one  of  himself  could  draw  near 
to  God.  The  priests  and  the  entire  pagan- 
sacerdotal  system  of  Confession  and  the  Mass 
completely  and  perpetually  blocked  the  way. 
Hence  the  first  thing  which  the  Reformers  had 
everywhere  to  do  was  to  proclaim  the  priesthood 
of  all  believers,  and  to  sweep  aside  every  barrier 

123 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

which  popery  had  placed  in  the  way.  It  is 
open  to  question  whether  they  went  as  far  in 
this  direction  as  they  ought  to  have  done,  in 
loyalty  to  the  New  Testament ;  but  in  the  best  of 
all  ways  they  knew  that  men  can  and  ought  to 
draw  near  to  God.  They  had  themselves  been 
face  to  face  with  Him,  brought  nigh  in  penitence 
and  faith. 

Inevitably,  therefore,  the  Reformation  was  a 
great  Home  Mission  movement.  Evangelism  of 
the  most  aggressive  and  strenuous  sort  was  its 
foremost  characteristic  in  every  land.  In  the 
earlier  movings  which  told  that  the  day  was  at 
hand,  the  first  rays  of  light  which  were  the 
harbingers  of  the  dawn,  the  movement  was 
Missionary  very  much  as  that  in  the  first  century 
had  been.  The  first  inroads,  for  example,  on  the 
gross  darkness  which  had  settled  down  on  Scotland 
after  the  ill-omened  triumphs  of  Margaret  and 
the  Sore  Saint,  were  made  by  two  wandering 
evangelists,  Paul  Craw  and  John  Reseby,  the  one 
a  Missionary  preacher  from  Bohemia  and  the 
other  from  across  the  English  border.  That 
they  were  both  refugees  from  persecution  only 
increases  their  resemblance  to  the  Gospel  preachers 
who  fled  from  Jerusalem  to  Cyprus,  Phenice,  and 
Antioch  long  before.  They  were  sparks  from 
the  flame  which  had  been  kindled  in  Bohemia  by 

124 


The  Reformation  and  Missions 

John  Hus  and  Jerome  of  Prague,  and  in  England 
by  John  Wyclif,  the  Morning  Star  of  the  English 
Reformation. 

Wyclif s  name  reminds  us,  too,  of  his  "poor 
preachers  " — poor,  that  is,  in  estate,  and  not  in  their 
preaching — who  did  the  work  of  evangelisation 
so  splendidly  in  England  long  before  Martin 
Luther  was  born.  They  showed,  what  is  obvious 
to  all  who  know  the  history  of  Missions  in  any 
age,  that  whenever  men  and  women  are  filled 
with  the  love  of  God,  and  are  rejoicing  in  salva- 
tion through  Christ  alone,  they  cannot  but  tell 
others  about  it.  Necessity  is  laid  on  them,  the 
supreme  necessity  of  the  soul ;  and  mere  geo- 
graphical limitations  are  of  little  significance. 
Home  and  Foreign  Missions  are  the  natural  and 
necessary  outcome  of  new  life  and  ardour,  and 
without  them  the  new  life  cannot  expand  as  it 
ought  to  do. 

How  true  this  is,  is  very  abundantly  evidenced 
by  the  history  of  the  Reformation  movement  itself 
when  once  the  day  had  fully  come  after  the  long 
and  dreadful  night.  The  work  of  evangelism,  of 
preaching  the  Gospel,  or  Home  Mission  work,  that 
is,  was  everywhere  carried  on  as  the  foremost  duty 
and  privilege  of  the  enlightened  and  liberated 
soul. 

Luther  himself  was  a  j)reacher  of  the  first  order, 
125 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

a  Gospel  preacher  above  all  else,  and  one  of  the 
greatest  the  Church  has  ever  had,  alike  by  word  of 
mouth  and  through  his  writings.  He  sometimes 
preached  every  day  for  weeks  together.  He  often 
preached  three  times  in  a  day.  As  early  in  his 
career  as  Lent  in  1517,  he  preached  twice  a  day  in 
addition  to  his  University  lectures,  which  were  also 
preaching  of  the  best  sort.  And  all  this  he  did 
without  fee  or  reward,  because  his  whole  being- 
was  on  fire  with  the  love  of  God  and  the  passion 
for  souls. 

True  to  the  new  life  and  its  behests,  he  yearned 
to  share  with  others  the  great  gifts  he  himself  had 
received  through  the  free  grace  of  Christ.  Where- 
ever  he  went  on  his  journeys,  he  preached  the  glad 
tidings  of  salvation  ;  and  whenever  he  preached, 
men  crowded  to  hear  the  Word  of  the  Living  God. 
There  had  been  nothing  like  it  since  Pentecost, 
except  perhaps  some  phases  of  the  preaching  of  the 
Crusades,  and  that  was  on  an  altogether  different 
plane.  At  Zwickau,  when  he  preached  on  one  of 
his  journeys,  the  market-place  was  crowded  by 
twenty-five  thousand  eager  listeners,  and  he  had  to 
preach  to  them  from  a  window.  On  his  way  to 
Worms,  too,  he  could  not  get  away  from  the  crowds  ; 
while  at  Erfurt,  the  great  church  was  often  so 
crowded  that  they  feared  it  would  fall. 

And  the  same  prominence  was  given  in  these 
126 


The  Reformation  and  Missions 

stirring  times  in  other  lands  to  preaching  the 
Gospel — that  is,  to  Home  Mission  work  among  the 
ignorant  and  the  depraved.  All  the  Reformers, 
great  scholars  and  theologians  as  most  of  them 
were,  were  primarily  evangelists,  preachers,  and 
translators  of  the  living  Word.  The  Scottish 
reformer  George  Wishart,  for  example,  was  a  noted 
preacher  under  whose  Gospel  ministry  many  were 
converted ;  while  the  English  reformer,  William 
Tyndale,  was  an  evangelist  whose  soul  was  fired 
with  the  sublime  purpose  that  every  ploughboy 
should  be  able  to  read  the  Scriptures  in  his  mother 
tongue.  We  read  of  Wishart  that  he  came  forth 
for  his  work  of  preaching  after  whole  days  and 
nights  of  prayer  and  meditation,  and  his  success 
was  one  of  the  chief  reasons  why  his  enemies  felt 
that  they  must  silence  him  at  the  stake.  When 
he  heard  that  Dundee  had  been  visited  by  the 
plague  in  1544,  he  hastened  to  the  stricken  town 
as  eagerly  as  others  were  fleeing  from  it,  and  took 
his  place  at  the  head  of  the  east  gate,  the  infected 
standing  on  the  one  side  of  it,  and  those  who 
w^ere  free  on  the  other.  When  not  preaching, 
he  was  constantly  employed  in  visiting  the 
sick  and  ministering  to  the  wants  of  the  poor, 
exposing  himself  without  fear  to  the  risk  of 
infection. 

Through  the  preaching  of  John  Knox  at  Dieppe, 
127 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

too,  although  it  was  mainly  as  he  passed  through 
it  on  his  various  journeys,  so  many  were  won  for 
God  that  the  city  earned  the  proud  title  of  the 
Eochelle  of  the  North.  Similarly  in  Holland  we 
find  the  Reformation  movement  in  the  same 
intimate  alliance  with  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel. 
Motley  tells  of  audiences  of  six  thousand  and  ten 
thousand ;  and  on  one  occasion  as  many  as  twenty 
thousand  gathered  at  Tournay  to  hear  a  preacher, 
Ambrose  Wille  by  name,  a  follower  of  Calvin,  who 
was  there  with  a  special  price  on  his  head.  All 
through  Flanders,  too,  gatherings  of  immense  size 
and  significance  were  held  for  the  preaching  of  the 
Word. 

The  historian  has  described  one  in  detail  which 
was  held  near  Haarlem.  Tens  of  thousands  were 
present,  he  says,  many  of  them  armed,  and  guards 
were  posted.  The  service  began  with  the  singing 
of  a  Psalm,  and  then  for  four  long,  uninterrupted 
hours  the  preacher,  Peter  Gabriel  by  name,  who 
had  once  been  a  monk,  held  the  multitude 
enthralled  under  the  blazing  July  sun.  His  text 
was  the  eighth,  ninth,  and  tenth  verses  of  the 
second  chapter  of  Ephesians ;  as  he  spoke  to  his 
great  audience  of  the  grace  of  God  and  of  faith 
in  Jesus  Christ,  Who  had  come  to  save  the  lowliest 
and  the  most  abandoned,  if  only  they  would  put 
their  trust  in   Him,  his  hearers  were   alternately 

128 


The  Reformation  and  Missions 

exalted  with  fervour  and  melted  to  tears.  At 
times  not  a  dry  eye  could  be  seen. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  proclamation  of 
the  Gospel  of  God's  grace  had  a  great  place  in 
the  Reformation  movement  throughout,  and  that 
it  was  a  Home  Mission  movement  on  the  most 
extensive  scale  that  Europe  had  ever  known.  But 
the  astounding  and  puzzling  fact  remains  that,  so 
far  as  Missions  to  the  heathen  in  foreign  lands 
are  concerned,  hardly  anything  was  done  by  any 
of  the  Reformed  churches  in  Reformation  times. 
When  we  refer  to  the  Reformation  and  Missions, 
it  is  not  so  much  to  tell  what  was  achieved,  as  to 
try  to  explain  how  it  was  that  in  the  midst  of  such 
fervour,  and  with  so  many  gracious  tokens  of  the 
favour  of  God  and  the  power  of  His  Word,  the 
old  marching  orders  of  the  Church — never  repealed, 
and  once  again  laid  bare  with  new  sanctions — were 
so  thoroughly  ignored.  This  is  a  problem  which 
no  student  of  Missions,  historically  considered,  can 
afford  to  neglect ;  and  that  all  the  more  that  during 
this  very  period  of  stress  and  strain  in  Europe  the 
Church  of  Rome  set  herself  to  win  the  heathen 
with  unwonted  vigour,  as  if  she  would  redress  her 
losses  in  the  Old  World  by  her  gains  in  the  New. 

During  the  three  centuries  which  preceded  the 
advent  of  Luther,  Foreign  Missions  in  the  ordinary 
sense  had  practically  ceased.  The  exceptions  only 
N.E.— 9  129 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

prove  the  rule.  But  now,  in  the  very  midst  of  the 
upheaval  at  home,  the  papacy  is  found  once  more 
at  work  in  foreign  lands. 

In  1541,  Francis  Xavier  was  sent  to  India,  and 
thereafter  was  busy  in  the  Far  East  until  his  death 
in  1552.  The  whole  problem  of  the  moral  and 
spiritual  value  of  Romish  Missions  and  of  their 
unhappy  history  will  be  dealt  with  later  on  ;  mean- 
while it  is  enough  to  say  that  in  the  true  sense  of 
the  term  what  Xavier  did  can  hardly  be  called 
Mission  work  at  all.  As  Dr.  Julius  Richter  has 
pointed  out,  he  "  never  learnt  the  language  of  any 
of  the  lands  he  visited,  least  of  all  one  of  the 
Indian  tongues."  And  truly  the  lands  he  visited 
were  many.  In  his  brief  career  abroad  he  laboured 
among  the  Europeans  of  Goa,  the  Paravars,  a  fisher 
caste  near  Cape  Comoriu,  and  in  Travancore.  He 
had  also  visited  the  Island  of  Malacca,  and  founded 
a  Mission  in  Japan,  and  was  on  his  way  to 
China,  ere  death  closed  his  eyes  at  the  early  age 
of  forty-six. 

But  this  recital  of  the  travels  of  Xavier  suggests 
what  was  probably  the  foremost  reason  why,  at 
this  stirring  and  revolutionary  epoch,  the  claims 
of  the  wider  world  were  so  little  responded 
to  by  the  Protestants.  It  also  suggests  why 
the  Romanists  were  first.  The  maritime  nations 
then   were    Portugal   and    Spain,    popish    peoples 

130 


The  Reformation  and   Missions 

both  of  them,  to  their  own  great  loss  as 
well  as  to  the  detriment  of  mankind,  as  their 
subsequent  decadence  so  clearly  indicates.  To 
them  the  Papal  See  had  audaciously  gifted  the 
whole  of  the  New  World  after  its  discovery,  and 
they  alone  at  that  time  were  in  touch  with  the 
great  pagan  regions  of  the  Far  East.  That  meant 
that  they  alone  had  the  means  of  entering  or 
even  reaching  the  doors  which  were  beginning  to 
be  opened,  or  which  might  now  be  forced. 

The  same  sort  of  conditions,  but  with  the  entire 
situation  almost  wholly  reversed,  have  brought  it 
about  that  in  modern  times  the  opening  doors  have 
opened  first  and  mainly  for  the  English-speaking 
peoples,  and  that  the  great  lines  of  travel  and 
intercommunication  are  largely  in  their  hands. 
Owing  to  their  superior  enterprise,  and  to  the  fact 
that  coal  is  almost  altogether  "  Protestant,"  Great 
Britain,  Germany,  and  America  now  occupy,  in 
respect  to  maritime  power  and  intimate  association 
with  the  regions  beyond,  the  position  that  was 
held  in  the  sixteenth  century  by  Spain  and 
Portugal,  and  used  by  them  as  the  willing  agents 
and  emissaries  of  Rome. 

When  Vasco  da  Gama  first  rounded  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope,  and  in  the  year  1498  reached  the 
Malabar  coast,  he  opened  up  the  way  for  Portu- 
guese colonisation  and  for  planting  the  banner  of 

131 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

the  Cross  in  India  and  the  Islands  of  the  East. 
All  through,  the  spirit  of  adventure  and  greed 
which  so  largely  inspired  these  early  pioneers  of 
Empire  was  mingled  with  the  desire  to  propagate 
the  Romish  faith  in  the  New  World  and  the  Far 
East.  Unfortunately,  however,  the  Jesuits  and 
the  Franciscans  were  far  from  being  worthy  ex- 
ponents of  the  Gospel ;  and  it  is  not  too  much 
to  assert  that  the  evil  which  was  done  far  out- 
balanced the  good,  and  that  the  labours  of  these 
Missionaries  were  of  little  avail.  To  this  day,  for 
instance,  the  progress  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  alike 
in  South  America  and  Central  America  is  sadly 
hindered  by  the  bitter  fruits  and  memories  of  these 
early  expeditions  and  Missions. 

Columbus  also  was  imbued  with  religious  feeling 
in  his  voyages ;  and  just  as  the  Franciscans  ac- 
companied the  Portuguese  navigators,  the  Domini- 
cans entered  in  the  train  of  the  emissaries  of  Spain. 
Rivals  in  the  Old  World,  these  monastic  orders 
were  rivals  also  in  the  New. 

Not  only  so,  but  both  Spain  and  Portugal  were 
using  the  monks  for  their  aggressive  and  political 
ends,  just  as  France  still  makes  use  of  them  in 
Syria. 

Among  the  Dominicans  was  Bartholomew  de 
Las  Casas,  the  most  eminent  Missionary  of  his 
time.     He  was  the  first  to  receive  priestly  ordina- 

132 


The  Reformation  and   Missions 

tion  in  America,  and  his  father  had  been  with 
Columbus  during  his  first  voyage  of  discovery. 
He  set  himself  to  deliver  the  hapless  natives  out  of 
the  slavery  to  which  they  had  been  reduced  by  the 
Spaniards  ;  but  those  with  whom  he  had  to  contend 
were  usually  able  to  thwart  him  and  defeat  his 
plans.  In  his  eagerness  to  help  the  aborigines, 
"he  crossed  the  sea  twelve  times;  he  traversed 
every  then-known  region  of  America  and  the 
Islands  ;  he  made  repeated  journeys  from  Spain  to 
Flanders  and  Germany,  to  see  the  Emperor  on  the 
affairs  of  his  Mission " ;  yet  all  the  while  his 
literary  labours  would  have  been  remarkable  even 
in  a  scholar  who  had  no  calling  outside  of  the  halls 
of  some  college  or  the  quiet  of  some  private 
study.  The  one  blot  on  his  reputation — and  it  is  a 
serious  one — is  that  he  sanctioned  the  beginnings 
of  the  African  slave  trade  and  the  introduction  of 
negro  slaves  into  America. 

His  reasons  for  doing  so  were  that  he  wished 
to  spare  his  converts,  and  that  he  knew  the 
Africans  could  toil  in  that  climate  without  the 
same  danger  to  health  or  life.  But  that  was  doing 
a  manifest  evil  in  the  interests  of  a  very  problem- 
atic good,  and  he  lived  to  deplore  bitterly  what  he 
had  done.  But  it  was  then  too  late  to  undo  the 
mischief.  He  was  dealing  with  men  who  were 
besotted  by  the  lust  for  wealth  and  power,  and  the 

^33 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

vile  traffic  went  on  and  grew  in  spite  of  him  ; 
just  as  the  degradation  of  the  natives  continued 
too.  Nor  is  it  at  all  difficult  to  understand  how 
that  was  so,  in  view  of  all  that  still  persists  on  the 
Congo,  in  spite  of  every  protest  against  it  and 
every  effort  at  its  abolition. 

It  is  said  that  trade  follows  the  flag,  and  it  is 
also  true  that  to  some  extent  Mission  work  must 
follow  the  flag,  although  there  are  notable  excep- 
tions where  the  flag  has  followed  Missions.  It  is 
not  to  be  wondered  at,  therefore,  that  in  Reforma- 
tion times,  when  all  the  open  doors  were  in  the 
hands  of  Romish  peoples  and  under  Romish  flags, 
and  the  distances  were  so  vast,  none  of  the 
Reformers  were  brought  into  touch  with  the 
heathen  nations  in  such  a  compelling  fashion  as  to 
hear  the  appealing  cry  or  to  see  the  beckoning 
hand.  They  did  not  realise  how  imperative  the 
Great  Commission  still  was,  and  it  is  not  our 
business  to  apportion  the  blame. 

What  we  have  to  do  is  to  discover,  if  we  can, 
how  it  was  that  they  seem  to  have  been  almost 
unaware  that  there  were  heathen  lands  waiting 
for  Christ.  And  this  we  shall  do  all  the  better 
if  we  reflect  how  much  it  has  meant  in  our  own 
time  for  Protestant  Missions  that  the  Union  Jack 
floats  over  such  vast  territories  where  paganism 
still  persists,  and  that  wherever  it  waves  there  is 

134 


The  Reformation  and  Missions 

all  a  Missionary  should  ever  ask — a  fair  field  for 
Christian  effort,  even-handed  justice  for  all,  and 
stern  opposition  to  slavery  in  every  form.  To 
revert  to  the  disgraceful  instance  of  the  Congo, 
what  a  difference  it  would  have  made  in  that  sad 
region  if  Great  Britain  had  been  in  power  there 
instead  of  that  abomination  miscalled  a  Govern- 
ment which  has  been  such  a  hindrance  and  snare ! 
This,  then,  was  the  outstanding  reason  for  the  fact 
that  there  were  no  Protestant  Foreign  Missions 
in  the  great  days  of  the  Eeformation,  although 
others  were  already  in  the  field. 

But  there  was  another,  and  very  obvious  as  well 
as  commonplace,  reason  for  the  absence  of  effort 
abroad  on  the  part  of  those  who  were  doing  such 
heroic  service  in  so  many  fields  at  home.  They 
were  so  preoccupied  with  the  struggles  against 
the  forces  of  superstition  and  reaction  in  the 
European  countries,  with  their  own  internal 
troubles  and  divisions,  and  with  the  work  of 
organisation  and  setting  forth  their  doctrines  in 
presence  of  those  who  were  their  foes  to  the  death, 
that  it  is  hardly  to  be  wondered  at  that  they 
attempted  nothing  except  the  work  at  their  own 
doors,  colossal  as  that  was.  This  requires  neither 
proof  nor  exposition.  It  will  be  peculiarly 
obvious  to  those  who  know  anything  of  the 
enormous    difficulties    they    had    increasingly    to 

135 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

face  as  the  counter- Reformation  took  shape  and 
grew. 

The  social  problems,  too,  which  gathered  round 
them,  such  as  those  which  culminated  in  the  woe- 
ful Peasants'  War  in  Germany,  and  which  grew  out 
of  it,  must  have  been  a  most  portentous  barrier 
to  work  abroad.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  these  diffi- 
culties, and  the  way  in  which  they  were  dealt  with, 
did  much  to  hinder  the  work  at  home. 

It  is,  of  course,  open  to  argument  whether  some 
of  their  troubles  might  not  have  been  averted  had 
the  Reformers  been  more  obedient  to  the  duty  which 
is  never  in  abeyance  ;  and  also  whether  we  have  not 
here  another  of  those  vicious  circles  which  are  so 
often  to  be  met  with  in  the  history  of  Missions. 
Had  the  Reformers  been  even  greater  than  they 
were,  and  been  loyal  from  the  first  to  what  is  the 
world-wide  Mission  of  the  Church  in  all  as^es  and 
all  circumstances,  it  is  not  improbable  that  they 
would  have  been  able  to  deal  with  the  social 
problems  of  their  age  more  wisely  and  more 
Christianly  than  they  did.  It  is  not  open  to  any 
one  to  deny  that  in  this  respect  they  came  far  short 
of  the  Gospel  standard ;  and  that  in  particular 
Luther  abandoned,  if  he  did  not  betray,  the  peasants 
from  whose  ranks  he  had  come. 

In  his  Essays  on  the  Social  Gospel,  Harnack  says 
that  "  in  spite  of  the  high  esteem  in  which  Luther 

136 


The  Reformation  and  Missions 

always  held  civic  authority  and  the  State,  his 
original  intention  was  to  reconstruct  the  Church 
on  the  simple  basis  of  government  by  the  con- 
gregation. He  had  visions  of  a  congregational 
life  founded  on  fellowship  and  on  principles  of 
Christian  liberty,  fraternity,  and  equality.  It  was 
further  his  idea  that  the  national  element  should 
find  free  expression,  only  the  nation  then  meant 
the  Koman  Empire  of  German  nationality  ;  and  he 
had  in  view  an  improvement  in  the  general 
economic  condition  of  the  country,  an  increase  in 
the  culture,  and  the  upraising  of  the  downtrodden 
classes."  But  in  his  dread  lest  the  religious  move- 
ment with  which  he  was  identified  should  be  made 
responsible  for  the  social  uprising  of  the  serfs,  he 
ended  in  joining  hands  with  the  ruling  classes  in 
their  determination  to  crush  out  the  revolutionary 
movement,  with  every  accessory  of  cruelty  and 
bloodshed.  It  is  not  clear  that  since  these  dark 
days  of  reaction  and  betrayal  Protestantism  has 
ever  enjoyed  to  any  large  extent  the  confidence 
of  the  very  poorest. 

It  is  also  probable  that  hearty  obedience  in  those 
days  of  Reformation  to  the  appeals  of  the  perishing 
beyond  the  seas,  and  outside  the  pale  of  civilisation, 
would  have  done  much  to  prevent  the  dreary  ages 
of  dogmatism  and  death  which  followed  the  great 
era  of  revival  and  reform.     Even  if  it  be  the  case 

^37 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

that  their  preoccupations  at  home  prevented  the 
churches  of  the  Reformation  from  going  forth  among 
the  heathen,  the  fact  remains  that  the  blight  of 
the  deformation  soon  came  on  them,  and  did  much 
to  degrade  their  work  in  the  homelands. 

The  reflex  influence  of  Missions  is  enormous ; 
and  if  there  be  grounds  for  holding  that  the 
flourishing  North  African  Church  of  earlier  days 
came  to  an  untimely  and  unhappy  end  because  it 
was  not  a  Missionary  church,  it  may  also  be  argued 
that  the  Church  of  the  Reformation  soon  ceased 
to  be  healthy,  because  there  can  be  neither  progress 
nor  purity  unless  there  be  obedience  to  plain 
commands.  And  it  is  full  of  significance  that  in 
the  second  generation  of  the  Reformation  era,  John 
Calvin,  the  prince  of  exegetes,  and  as  fearless  as 
he  was  learned,  in  his  commentary  on  the  words 
of  our  Lord,  "  Go  ye  therefore,  and  teach  all  nations, 
baptizing  them  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of 
the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  had  not  one  word 
to  say  about  the  present  duty  of  the  Church  to 
those  who  were  sitting  in  darkness  and  in  the 
shadow  of  death. 

Another  reason  which  is  sometimes  added  to 
these  explanations  of  the  inaction  of  the  Reformed 
churches  even  in  the  first  flush  of  their  new  life 
is  that  they  were  influenced  by  their  strong  pre- 
destinarian  views.     And  in  this  connection  it  has 

138 


The  Reformation  and  Missions 

always  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  Luther's  doctrine 
regarding  election  and  reprobation  was  just  the 
same  as  that  of  Calvin  ;  and  that  Anglicans  and 
Independents  alike  at  first  occupied  the  very  same 
position  as  to  the  decrees  which  was  held  by  the 
Presbyterians,  and  which  finds  its  best  expression 
in  the  Westminster  Assembly's  Confession  of  Faith. 

It  is  by  no  means  certain,  however,  that  any  of 
the  Reformers  held  such  predestinarian  views  as 
could  account  for  their  lack  of  Missionary  en- 
thusiasm. It  was  only  in  the  subsequent  era  of 
deo-eneration  that  these  doctrines  became  a  snare ; 
and  in  the  best  days  of  the  Reformation,  so  long 
as  the  revival  of  heart-religion  continued,  election 
was  always  thought  of  as  a  means  of  grace.  It 
was  not  looked  at  from  the  standpoint  of  meta- 
physics, but  from  that  of  religion,  and  therefore 
was  not  calculated  to  blind  men  to  the  needs  of 
the  regions  beyond. 

The  significance  of  this  distinction  is  well 
brought  out  in  the  experience  of  John  Knox.  It 
was  in  the  doctrine  of  the  Divine  electing  love, 
he  tells  us,  that  he  first  found  rest  for  his  soul. 
For  him  ''  predestination  was  no  cut  -  and  -  dry 
dc-ctrine."  It  came  to  him  full  of  life  and  meaning 
from  the  Person  of  Christ.  "  God  hath  predestinated 
me,"  meant  "  He  hath  made  me  dear  by  that 
Beloved " ;    "as   God  hath   loved  Him,"   thus   he 

139 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

argues,  *'  so  hath  He  loved  me ;  for  I  am  one 
with  Him." 

This  truth  laid  hold  of  the  Scottish  Reformer  by 
a  threefold  cord.  He  felt  it  to  be  the  one  immov- 
able ground  for  faith,  the  most  powerful  argument 
for  a  new  and  humble  life,  and  the  greatest  incen- 
tive to  gratitude  and  love.  From  what  source,  he 
asked  himself,  did  this  proceed,  this  light  which  he 
had  received  in  the  midst  of  so  much  darkness, 
this  sanctification  in  the  midst  of  so  much  wicked- 
ness ?  "  Not  from  nature,"  answered  conscience  ; 
for  nature  had  made  him  a  child  of  wrath  even  as 
others.  "  Not  from  education,  or  his  own  study," 
experience  replied.  Many  who  had  been  nursed 
in  virtue  had  yet  become  most  filthy  in  life,  while 
many  who  had  long  remained  without  any  virtuous 
education  had  yet  in  the  end  attained  to  God's 
favour.  The  only  source  which  remained  was 
"  that  infinite  benefit  which  exceedeth  all  measure 
of  free  grace  and  mere  mercy." 

It  is  true  that  Calvinism  did  harden  into  the 
anti-Mission  attitude,  and  was  used  to  buttress 
it ;  but  that  was  only  one  of  the  many  proofs  of 
the  declension  which  had  taken  place — another 
indication  that  election  had  been  removed  from 
the  realm  of  religion,  and  had  entered  the  realm 
of  philosophy.  We  can  see  its  true  spirit  and 
bearing  before  the  days  of  decline  came,  when  in 

140 


The  Reformation  and  Missions 

the  year  1560  we  find  Knox  imprinting  the  great 
Mission  text  on  the  title-page  of  the  first  Confession 
of  the  Church  of  Scotland  :  "  And  this  glad  tidings 
of  the  Kingdom  shall  be  preached  throughout  the 
whole  world  for  a  witness  to  all  nations,  and  then 
shall  the  end  come." 

The  same  spirit  is  also  manifest  in  the  instruc- 
tions which  were  issued  in  the  name  of  Edward  vi. 
of  England  to  the  navigators  whose  work  resulted 
in  the  formation  of  the  East  India  Company.  In 
the  words  of  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert,  they  were 
to  the  efi'ect  that  "in  the  sowing  of  Christianity 
must  be  the  chief  interest  of  such  as  shall  make 
any  attempt  at  foreign  discovery,  or  else  whatever 
is  builded  upon  other  foundation  shall  never  obtain 
happy  success  or  continuance."  Nor  was  this 
altogether  theory,  and  without  any  corresponding 
practice.  Sir  Humphrey's  half-brother,  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh,  took  steps  to  secure  the  conversion  of  the 
natives  in  the  first  English  colony,  that  which 
bore  the  name  of  the  virgin  queen ;  and  the  first 
baptism  of  a  native  is  recorded  as  having  taken 
place  on  13th  August,  1587.  And  all  this  is  borne 
out  and  further  illustrated  by  the  fact  that,  when 
at  length  the  modern  Mission  movement  began,  it 
was  inaugurated  by  those  who  were  loyal  Calvin- 
ists,  some  of  them  even  more  Calvinistic  than 
Calvin  himself.     The  blame  of  the  inaction  of  the 

141 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

Reformers  can  hardly,  therefore,  be  put  on  their 
doctrine  of  predestination. 

Yet  another  reason,  however,  has  been  suggested 
for  this  inaction,  an  inaction  which  happily  has 
all  along  been  felt  to  require  some  explanation. 
That  is,  that  Luther  was  so  convinced  that  the  end 
of  the  world  was  at  hand,  that  he  thought  the 
final  lines  of  demarcation  had  been  drawn,  and 
must  be  left  where  they  ran.  "  Let  the  Turks 
believe  and  live  as  they  choose,  just  as  the  Pope 
and  other  false  Christians  are  allowed  to  live,"  he 
wrote.  He  seems  to  have  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  power  of  Antichrist  had  reached  its 
climax ;  that  the  nations  destined  to  accept  the 
message  of  salvation  were  already  gathered  within 
the  fold ;  and  that  the  Gospel  having  now  been 
preached  in  its  purity,  the  time  of  the  dissolution 
of  all  things  was  at  hand. 

How  far  this  was  a  determining  consideration 
with  Luther  and  his  co-workers  it  is  not  now  easy 
to  say  ;  but  it  may  be  remarked  that  any  such 
arguing  gave  a  wrong  turn  to  the  great  words 
which  Knox  quoted  on  the  title-page  of  the  Scots 
Confession,  as  to  the  Gospel  being  preached  through- 
out the  whole  world  for  a  witness  to  all  nations  ; 
and  that  this  text  still  suffers  in  the  same  way  at 
the  hands  of  some  who  are  eager  supporters  of 
Foreign   Missions.      To  introduce  any  vindictive 

142 


The  Reformation  and  Missions 

element  into  such  a  realm  of  action  is  peculiarly 
unfortunate  ;  and  whatever  his  theory  may  be,  it 
is  not  easy  to  imagine  anyone  going  among  the 
heathen  to  preach  the  Gospel  as  a  witness  against 
those  who  reject  it.  It  is  more  than  likely  that 
this  plea  for  the  Reformers,  or  this  plea  of  the 
Reformers  for  themselves,  is  one  of  those  which 
are  i^ost  hoc  sed  non  loropter  hoc,  and  which  are 
so  easily  found  to  buttress  unworthy  practices, 
after  the  event. 

In  the  midst  of  all  these  explanations  as  to  why 
the  Reformers  did  not  engage  in  Foreign  Mission 
work,  it  is  needful  to  bear  in  mind  that  even  then 
God  did  not  leave  Himself  without  a  witness, 
although  such  a  historian  as  Kurtz  can  only  say 
that  "  the  Reformed  Church  made  one  Missionary 
attempt  in  the  year  1557,"  and  devotes  only 
fifteen  lines  to  the  Protestant  Missions  of  that 
great  and  formative  era. 

Strangely  enough,  the  wisest  and  bravest  words 
which  were  then  spoken  on  behalf  of  Missions  to 
the  heathen  came  from  Erasmus,  who  is  hardly  to 
be  numbered  among  the  Reformers  at  all,  so  half- 
hearted was  he  in  the  final  issue,  although  his 
monumental  edition  of  the  Greek  New  Testament 
had  so  much  to  do  with  guiding  the  evangelical 
movement  wherever  scholars  were  to  be  found. 
Nor  was  it  students  alone  that  the  great  scholar 

143 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

of  Rotterdam  wished  to  help ;  for  we  find  him 
declaring  that  the  Scriptures  ought  to  be  read  by 
clowns  and  mechanics,  and  even  by  the  Turks, 
and  should  be  translated  into  every  tongue. 

In  his  great  treatise  on  the  art  of  preaching, 
Erasmus  appeals  to  the  example  of  Basil, 
Chrysostom,  Augustine,  and  Gregory  the  Great, 
who,  although  burdened  with  the  care  of  all  the 
churches  and  weakened  by  disease,  gave  themselves 
to  continual  preaching,  and  sent  forth  Missionaries 
to  far-distant  lands.  Eloquently,  and  in  a  spirit 
truly  evangelical,  Erasmus  goes  on  to  urge  that 
Missionaries  should  be  sent  to  those  who  had 
never  heard  the  Gospel,  and  even  to  its  most 
uncompromising  enemies,  the  Mohammedans. 
Some  of  his  sentences  have  not  yet  lost  their 
point  or  force,  and  are  well  worthy  of  being  quoted 
once  again  : — 

"  We  daily  hear  men  deploring,"  he  writes, 
"  the  decay  of  the  Christian  religion,  who  say  that 
the  Gospel  message,  which  once  extended  over  the 
whole  earth,  is  now  confined  to  the  narrow  limits 
of  this  land.  Let  those,  then,  to  whom  this  is  an 
unfeigned  cause  of  grief,  beseech  Christ  earnestly 
and  continuously  to  send  labourers  into  His 
harvest,  or  more  correctly,  sowers  to  scatter  His 
seed.  Everlasting  God  !  how  much  ground  there 
is  in  the  world  where  the  seed  of  the  Gospel  has 

144 


The  Reformation  and  Missions 

never  yet  been  sown,  or  where  there  is  a  greater 
crop  of  tares  than  of  wheat  1  Europe  is  the  smallest 
quarter  of  the  globe ;  Greece  and  Asia  the  most 
fertile.  Into  these  countries  the  Gospel  was  first 
introduced  from  Judea  with  great  success.  But 
are  they  not  wholly  in  the  hands  of  the  Moham- 
medans and  men  who  know  not  the  name  of 
Christ  ?  What,  I  ask,  do  we  now  possess  in  Asia, 
which  is  the  largest  continent,  when  Palestine 
herself,  whence  first  the  Gospel  light  shone,  is 
ruled  by  heathens  ?  In  Africa  what  have  we  ? 
There  are  surely  in  these  vast  tracts  barbarous 
and  simple  tribes  who  could  easily  be  attracted  to 
Christ  if  we  sent  men  among  them  to  sow  the 
good  seed. 

"Eesfions  hitherto  unknown  are  beinsf  dailv 
discovered,  and  more  there  are,  as  we  are  told, 
into  which  the  Gospel  has  never  been  carried.  I 
do  not  at  present  allude  to  the  millions  of  Jews 
who  live  among  us,  nor  to  the  very  many  Gentiles 
who  are  attached  to  Christ  merely  by  name.  Nor 
do  I  refer  to  the  schismatics  and  heretics  who 
abound.  Oh,  how  these  would  turn  to  Christ  if 
noble  and  faithful  workers  were  sent  among  them, 
who  would  sow  good  seed,  remove  tares,  plant 
righteous  trees,  and  root  out  those  which  are 
corrupt ;  who  would  build  up  God's  house  and 
destroy  all  structures  which  do  not  stand  on  the 
N.E.— lo  145 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

Rock  of  Ages ;  who  would  reap  the  ripe  fruit  for 
Christ  and  not  for  themselves,  and  gather  souls 
for  their  Master  and  not  riches  for  their  own  use  ! " 

What  a  proof  that  there  is  nothing  new  under 
the  sun  !  But  although  the  appeal  to  the  churches 
came  thus  trenchantly  and  eloquently,  it  came 
from  an  unpopular  hand,  and  bore  but  little  fruit. 

The  one  definite  attempt  to  do  Foreign  Mission 
work  in  the  Reformation  era  seems  to  have  been 
that  made  by  Admiral  Coligny,  the  famous 
Huguenot,  who  perished  in  the  massacre  of  St. 
Bartholomew,  and  made  by  him  in  co-operation 
with  John  Calvin.  Like  the  English  Puritans  in 
later  days,  when  they  sought  freedom  to  worship 
God  as  they  pleased  in  another  realm  across  the 
Atlantic,  Coligny  had  dreams  of  a  freer  and 
happier  France  in  the  New  World,  and  readily 
fell  in  with  a  request  made  by  Villegagnon,  the 
Vice-Admiral  of  Brittany,  to  send  him  Protestants 
to  minister  to  those  of  that  religion  in  the  colony 
he  was  about  to  found  in  Brazil.  This  Villegagnon 
had  been  at  the  University  of  Paris  with  Calvin  ; 
but,  unlike  him,  he  had  remained  a  Romanist,  and 
by  and  by  he  played  the  traitor. 

In  the  year  1555,  Calvin  selected  Richer  and 
Chartier,  who  were  joined  by  twelve  others ;  and 
as  the  persecution  deepened  in  France  many  others 
desired  to  follow  them.     Owing,  however,  to  the 

146 


The  Reformation  and  Missions 

treachery  of  Villegagnon,  they  had  all  to  return  to 
France,  with  the  exception  of  five  whom  he  hurled 
over  a  precipice  for  their  loyalty  to  the  faith. 
The  Portuguese  completed  the  ruin  of  this  colony, 
of  which  Coligny  would  have  made  a  new  Father- 
land in  the  New  World,  the  first  free  church  in 
the  first  free  land,  as  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  were  ere 
long  to  do  in  North  America.  So  long  as  they 
were  allowed  to  remain,  these  Protestant  preachers 
were  busy  among  the  natives  as  well  as  among 
their  fellow-countrymen,  and  their  hearts  were 
cheered  by  many  conversions ;  but  that  work  also 
shared  in  the  common  ruin,  and  it  was  so  far 
incidental  merely,  that  we  can  hardly  claim  even 
this  Mission  as  a  Foreign  Mission  pure  and  simple. 
One  other  efibrt  was  made  some  three  or  four 
years  later  by  Gustavus  Vasa  of  Sweden,  who  sent 
Missionaries  among  the  Lapps,  the  only  people  in 
Northern  Europe  who  had  never  been  Christianised 
at  all.  Schools  were  opened  and  books  translated 
into  the  language  of  the  people ;  but  neither  then 
nor  since  has  any  great  progress  been  made  in  that 
inhospitable  region.  It  may  be,  however,  that 
more  was  being  attempted  and  done  than  is  on 
actual  record.  A  hint  that  that  was  so  may  be 
found  in  what  Hakluyt  tells  us  of  Frobisher,  the 
first  of  the  great  English  navigators.  He  says 
that  when  he  set  out  in    1576  in  search  of  the 

147 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

North-east  passage  from  the  Atlantic  to  India,  he 
had  with  him  a  chaplain,  Master  Wolfall,  who  had 
left  wife  and  children  and  a  good  living  with  the 
desire  of  saving  souls  and  reforming  infidels  to 
Christianity.  And  who  knows  how  many  such 
brave  and  loyal  souls  there  were  who  went  out 
thus  into  the  darkness  with  the  candle  lighted  by 
the  Lord  in  their  hands  ? 

There  were  no  Missionary  reports  in  these  days 
to  record  their  deeds  of  devotion  and  love.  Yet 
with  the  best  will  we  cannot  claim  that  much  was 
being  done,  and  not  the  least  of  the  evil  effects  of 
the  negative  attitude  which  the  Reformation  leaders 
entertained  towards  Foreign  Missions  was  that  it 
gave  the  tone  to  the  following  generations,  which 
had  not  their  difficulties  to  face  nor  their  excuses 
to  plead.  It  was  not  possible  that  such  an  attitude 
could  remain  negative  merely  among  those  who 
were  quite  unable  to  plead  preoccupation  as  the 
Reformers  might  have  done,  although,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  they  never  did  so.  Nor  were  they  long 
able  to  plead,  as  those  in  earlier  years  might  have 
done,  that  the  open  doors  were  all  in  Romish 
hands,  or  that  the  Protestant  Churches  had  no 
direct  contact  with  the  heathen  lands.  But  by 
that  time  the  pith  had  gone  out  of  the  Reformed 
Churches,  and  rationalism  had  begun  to  lay  its 
blight  on  them.     But  that  takes  us  to  a  later  era. 

148 


The  Reformation  and  Missions 

A  German  writer  on  this  theme,  and  no  less  an 
authority  than  Dr.  Warneck,  makes  two  inferences 
from  the  fact  that  in  the  era  of  the  Reformation 
it  was  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  not  the  Reformers, 
who  were  busy  in  the  foreign  field.  These  are, 
that  a  church  may  have  a  vigorous  spiritual  life  and 
yet  not  prosecute  Missionary  activity ;  and  that  a 
church  may  be  active  in  Missionary  operations  and 
yet  be  spiritually  dead.  He  holds,  further,  that 
this  period  teaches  that  there  are  two  conditions 
of  true  Missionary  activity — spiritual  activity,  and 
geographical  openings ;  and  from  the  failure  of  the 
attempts  made  by  Coligny  and  Gustavus  Vasa  he 
deduces  that  the  time  for  Protestant  Missions  had 
not  yet  come. 

These  deductions,  however,  can  hardly  be  ac- 
cepted without  material  qualifications.  On  the 
side  of  Rome  it  might  be  suggested  that  in  spite 
of  the  fact  that  the  Romish  Church,  as  such,  can 
claim  no  credit  for  Foreign  Mission  work,  and  that 
the  Romish  powers  used  the  Jesuits,  Dominicans, 
and  Franciscans  for  their  own  political  ends,  it 
may  have  been  spiritual  life  which  led  some  of 
the  humbler  agents  to  engage  in  work  abroad, 
and  thus  get  away  from  the  distractions  and 
abominations  which  prevailed  in  their  Church  at 
home.  On  the  side  of  the  Reformers  it  might 
also  be  suggested   that  more   was   wanting   than 

149 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

geographical  openings  to  induce  them  to  break 
ground  among  the  heathen,  inasmuch  as  the 
Reformed  Churches  were  slow  to  avail  themselves 
of  such  openings  when  they  came  at  length ;  and 
that  by  and  by  their  theologians  even  argued 
learnedly  and  laboriously  against  engaging  in 
Foreign  Mission  work. 

The  truth  is  that,  however  their  inactivity  may 
be  explained  or  condoned,  it  stands  condemned  at 
the  bar  of  history,  and  goes  far  to  explain  the 
unhappy  trend  of  affairs  in  the  subsequent  genera- 
tions alike  in  the  Lutheran  and  the  Reformed 
Churches.  There  are  spots  on  the  sun,  and  even 
the  Reformers  were  not  perfect.  Not  only  so,  but 
it  is  quite  open  to  the  student  to  argue  that  such 
obedience  to  the  plain  command  of  the  Lord,  ere 
He  ascended,  as  was  then  possible  would  have 
done  much  on  the  one  hand  to  save  the  Pro- 
testant Churches  from  the  errors  into  which  they 
soon  fell  in  connection  with  social  and  political 
problems ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  would  have 
delivered  them  from  the  fearful  doctrinal  degenera- 
tion which  soon  followed  the  Reformation. 

Every  generation  has  first  of  all  to  do  with  its 
own  duty,  and  not  with  that  of  any  other ;  and 
with  its  own  failings,  and  not  with  the  failings  of 
those  who  have  gone  before.  Yet  when  men  so 
great  and  learned  and  holy  as  the  Reformers  were 

150 


The  Reformation  and  Missions 

can  come  so  far  short  as  they  undoubtedly  did, 
those  who  come  after  may  at  least  conclude  that 
they  must  be  constantly  on  their  guard  lest  they 
fail  too,  and  be  ever  eager  to  follow  on  all  the  way 
to  know  the  Lord. 


151 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE   ERA  OF   DEFORMATION 


153 


*'  The  end  of  these  things  is  death." — Rom.  6.  21. 

"  Cold  is  the  malady  of  the  soul." — French  Saijing. 

"When  the  best    is   corrupted  it  becomes  the  worst." — Latin 
Proverb. 

"  Miss  not  the  occasion ;  by  the  forelock  take 
That  subtle  power,  the  never-halting  time ; 
Lest  a  mere  moment's  putting  off  should  make 
Mischance  almost  as  heavy  as  a  crime." 


154 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  ERA   OF   DEFORMATION 

TF  the  worst  that  can  be  said  about  the  Re- 
-■-  formers  and  their  attitude  to  Foreign  Missions 
is,  that  they  neglected  a  duty  which  can  only  be 
neglected  at  the  risk  of  losing  all  that  is  worth 
preserving,  it  cannot  but  be  said  of  their 
successors  that  the  great  majority  of  them  went 
the  length  of  actually  rejecting  the  appeal  of  the 
regions  beyond.  The  negative  attitude  of  the 
Reformation  era,  due  in  part  to  preoccupation 
with  home  problems  and  domestic  difficulties,  soon 
hardened  into  a  positive  attitude  of  aversion,  which 
necessarily  reacted  sadly  enough  on  the  life  and 
thought  of  the  Protestant  Churches  in  all  the 
European  nations. 

Nor  can  it  ever  be  otherwise  when  any  part  of 
the  Divine  law  is  ignored  in  theory  and  practice. 
The  Socinian  or  anti-supernatural  movement — 
called  rationalism  in  its  German  manifestations, 
latitudinarianism    as    it    affected    England,    and 

155 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

moderatism  as  it  affected  Scotland — in  the  weary 
seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries,  was  beyond 
question  one  of  the  bitter  fruits,  the  sad  effects, 
of  this  disobedience  to  a  plain  command,  of  this 
neglect  of  an  undoubted  privilege.  But  it  also 
deepened  the  disobedience  and  neglect  in  one  of 
those  vicious  circles  which  have  so  often  worked 
woe  in  the  Church  of  Christ. 

The  late  Professor  Masson  said  that  in  the 
Moderate  preaching  as  Scotland  knew  it,  "  the 
events  of  Judea  "  were  deemed  needless ;  and  when- 
ever that  is  the  case.  Foreign  Missions,  aye,  and 
Home  Missions  too,  must  be  unfruitful  or  unknown. 
But  it  is  also  one  of  the  many  questions  which 
that  unhappy  time  addresses  to  our  happier  age, 
how  far  the  events  of  Judea  cannot  but  cease 
ere  long  to  be  thought  essential  in  any  church 
which  neglects  the  perishing  in  the  great  lands  of 
heathenism,  and  does  not  set  itself  to  give  the  best 
it  has  to  those  for  whom  Christ  died.  The  reflex 
influence  of  work  abroad  on  the  home  churches 
has  often  been  insisted  on  ;  but  the  reflex  influence 
of  the  neglect  of  such  work  is  equally  important, 
and  it  is  not  improbable  that  all  the  serious 
doctrinal  heresies  could  be  traced  back  to  that 
great  practical  heresy. 

As  soon  after  the  heroic  days  of  the  Reformation 
as  the  year  1664,  when  Baron  von  Welz  issued  an 

156 


The  Era  of  Deformation 

appeal  to  "all  right-believing  Christians  of  the 
Augsburg  Confession,  regarding  a  special  Society 
through  which,  with  the  Divine  help,  our  Evan- 
gelical Keligion  could  be  extended,"  his  plans 
were  stigmatised  as  a  dream  by  a  prominent 
theologian,  Ursinus  by  name ;  and  the  very 
thought  of  casting  the  "holy  things  of  God" 
before  such  "dogs  and  swine"  as  the  heathen 
were,  was  treated  with  indignant  scorn.  Welz 
returned  to  the  attack,  however,  and  demanded 
whether  it  was  right  that  those  who  had  the 
Gospel  should  keep  it  to  themselves ;  that 
students  of  theology  should  be  confined  to  the 
home  parishes  ;  or  that  Christians  should  spend  so 
much  on  clothing,  eating,  and  drinking,  and  take 
no  thought  to  spread  the  Gospel.  He  pleaded 
that  Missionary  colleges  should  be  established  in 
every  Protestant  University,  and  that  bursaries 
should  be  founded  for  the  encouragement  of  those 
who  were  desirous  of  becoming  foreign  Missionaries. 
Nor  was  that  all  that  this  true  nobleman  did 
in  his  courage  and  zeal.  He  gave  himself  to  the 
work  for  which  he  pleaded,  and  went  out  to  Dutch 
Guiana,  taking  36,000  marks  with  him  for  the 
necessary  expenses.  Yet  out  among  the  heathen 
he  only  found  an  early  grave,  in  the  midst  of 
those  for  whose  salvation  he  yearned  so  much ; 
while  at  home  he  seemed  to  the  Christians  of  his 

157 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

time  as  one  who  dreamed ;  held  fast  as  they  were 
in  bondage  to  the  prejudices  which  had  come  down 
to  them  through  the  attitude  and  practice  of  their 
nobler  predecessors. 

Nor  did  these  prejudices  quickly  pass  away 
before  the  appeals  of  the  Gospel  or  the  needs  of 
men.  As  late  as  the  year  1786,  when  William 
Carey  asked,  in  a  company  of  Baptist  ministers  at 
Northampton,  "  Whether  the  command  given  to  the 
Apostles  to  teach  all  nations  was  not  obligatory  on 
all  succeeding  ministers  to  the  end  of  the  world, 
seeing  that  the  accompanying  promise  was  of 
equal  extent,"  he  was  met,  as  everyone  knows, 
by  the  rebuke  from  the  chairman  :  "  You  are  a 
miserable  enthusiast  for  asking  such  a  question. 
Certainly  nothing  can  be  done  before  another 
Pentecost,  when  an  effusion  of  miraculous  gifts, 
including  the  gift  of  tongues,  will  give  effect  to 
the  Commission  of  Christ." 

Ten  years  later,  in  1796,  after  the  Evan- 
gelical Revival  had  really  begun,  after  both 
the  Baptist  Missionary  Society  and  the  London 
Missionary  Society  had  been  founded  and  were 
actually  at  work,  a  majority  of  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  Church  of  Scotland  declared 
"that  to  spread  abroad  the  knowledge  of  the 
Gospel  among  the  barbarous  and  heathen  nations 
seems  to  be  highly  preposterous,  in  so  far  as  it 

158 


The  Era  of  Deformation 

anticipates,  nay,  it  even  reverses,  the  order  of 
nature."  And  these  fathers  and  brethren,  too, 
came  to  that  decision,  even  after  Dr.  John  Erskine 
had  said,  "  Rax  me  down  that  Book,"  and  had  read 
the  plain  and  unequivocal  command  of  their  risen 
Lord  and  Master  to  preach  the  Gospel  among  all 
nations. 

It  is  not  easy  to  imagine  what  the  Gospel  meant 
either  at  home  or  abroad  for  men  who  held  such 
views,  and  followed  such  practices,  with  the  name 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  on  their  lips.  But  so  it  was, 
even  as  Christians  used  to  support  slavery,  and 
Christians  still  have  no  horror  of  war ;  and  it  was 
not  till  the  year  1824  that  the  pathetic  finding 
of  the  Venerable  Assembly  was  reversed  under  the 
genial  and  illuminating  influence  of  the  blessed 
Evangelical  Revival.  The  truth  is  that  for  very 
many,  Calvinism,  once  a  means  of  grace,  had 
become  fatalism ;  and  that  what  professed  to  be 
the  Evangel  had  either  emasculated  the  Gospel  or 
had  turned  the  grace  of  God  into  lasciviousness. 
Whenever  the  blessings  of  the  Gospel  had  become 
real  for  the  churches  at  home,  they  began  to  hear 
the  bitter  cry  of  those  who  were  still  in  the  dark- 
ness, and  to  respond  to  their  appeal  to  come  over 
and  help  them.  Those  who  say  they  do  not 
believe  in  Foreign  Missions  are  not  bearing  a  very 
lofty  testimony  as  to  what  the  Gospel  has  done  for 

159 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

themselves.  The  true  proof  that  Christ  has  done 
great  things  for  us  is  the  desire  to  share  the 
blessing  with  others. 

For  after  all  it  is  not  so  difficult  to  understand 
the  attitude  of  indifference  of  the  great  mass  of 
professing  Christians  all  through  the  seventeenth 
and  eighteenth  centuries,  when  it  is  borne  in  mind 
that  in  practice  that  is  still  the  attitude  of  a  very 
large  number  of  those  who  in  one  way  and  another 
bear  the  name  of  Christ,  and  that  it  is  still  even 
the  theory  of  not  a  few  of  them.  Many  who 
ought  to  know  better  still  declare  that  it  is  cruel 
to  disturb  the  idyllic  state  of  nature  in  which  the 
heathen  rejoice  ;  the  hideous  cruelties  of  the  dark 
places  of  the  earth  being  ignored  or  forgotten. 
Those  who  know  the  pagan  peoples  at  first  hand 
can  never  say  that  we  ought  to  leave  them  as 
they  are,  unless  indeed  they  go  to  the  opposite 
extreme  of  holding  that,  far  from  being  idyllic, 
their  state  is  so  degraded  that  it  is  not  possible  to 
do  them  any  good. 

Then  there  are  those  who  take  up  the  cry  that 
the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  spoils  the  natives,  and 
that  alike  in  India  and  South  Africa  it  has  made 
them  greedy,  intractable,  and  dishonest ;  which  in 
practice  either  means  that  the  Gospel  is  blamed 
for  the  results  of  a  bastard  civilisation,  or  that 
it  has  helped  to  make  the  natives  into  men  and 

1 60 


The  Era  of  Deformation 

women  with  new  rights,  and  no  longer  mere 
chattels  to  be  bought  or  sold.  There  are  even 
Christian  teachers  and  moralists  who  maintain 
that  there  are  tribes  of  men  for  whom  the  worship 
of  the  False  Prophet  is  a  necessary  preparation 
for  the  worship  of  the  true  God,  and  that  their 
becoming  Mohammedans  will  open  up  their  way 
to  becoming  Christians.  The  same  critics  some- 
times also  hold  that  Missions  to  Mohammedans 
are  altogether  vain  and  fruitless. 

In  addition  to  all  these  enemies  of  the  Mission 
enterprise,  for  whom  certainly  the  plea  cannot 
be  offered  that  they  have  been  led  astray  by 
their  ultra-Calvinism,  there  are  not  a  few  who 
show  their  bent  by  doing  nothing  whatever  to 
promote  Mission  work  of  any  kind,  and  make  it 
manifest  that  they  grudge  all  that  is  spent  on 
such  work,  and  deem  it  thrown  away.  Sometimes, 
like  the  old  latitudinarians  or  Moderates,  they  pro- 
fess to  take  up  this  position  in  the  interests  of  the 
work  at  home  ;  and  like  them  also,  they  neglect  the 
work  at  home  just  as  they  ignore  the  work  abroad. 
It  is  still,  as  it  was  in  the  dreary  ages  of  the 
Deformation — when  the  Church  was  frozen  by 
formalism  and  dogmatism — and  as  it  has  always 
been,  those  who  are  callous  about  the  perishing 
abroad  are  just  those  who  do  least  to  spread  the 
Good  News  in  the  waste  places  in  the  homelands. 

N.E.— II  i6i 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

Those  who  declare  that  they  have  more  to  do  than 
they  can  undertake  in  their  work  at  home  seldom 
seem  to  be  overburdened  by  it,  and  their  leisure 
is  very  ample.  The  truth  is  that  those  who  do 
not  believe  in  the  need  for  the  Gospel  abroad,  or  in 
its  Divine  power  to  regenerate  and  purify  the  most 
degraded  in  any  land,  have  little  faith  in  its  power 
to  regenerate  men  at  home.  Nor  are  they  greatly 
troubled  as  a  rule  by  the  need  for  regeneration 
either  of  those  at  home  or  abroad.  It  is  not 
merely  the  great  parting  command  of  the  Lord 
they  ignore  ;  they  ignore  also  the  great  and  funda- 
mental word  which  meets  us  on  the  very  threshold 
of  His  ministry  :  "Ye  must  be  born  again." 

It  is  well  to  be  perfectly  frank  in  a  matter  so 
vital,  and  there  is  indeed  no  difficulty  in  under- 
standing why  rationalists  and  latitudinarians  alike 
were  in  no  way  eager  to  carry  a  Gospel  abroad 
which  they  ignored  and  even  denied  at  home. 
The  only  difficulty  lies  in  understanding  how  such 
views  and  practices  came  to  prevail  in  churches 
which  had  been  born  in  the  great  revival  other- 
wise known  as  the  Keformation,  and  which  had 
been  used  of  God  to  do  such  marvellous  things  for 
the  sinning  and  suffering  sons  of  men  in  so  many 
lands. 

The  most  obvious  contribution  towards  the  solu- 
tion of  this  problem  is  just  what  has  been  seen 

162 


The  Era  of  Deformation 

as  to  the  neglect  of  Foreign  Missions  during  the 
revival  era  itself,  however  that  neglect  may  be 
accounted  for  or  may  remain  unaccounted  for. 
This  is  borne  out  by  the  fact  that  whenever  the 
Church  began  to  live  at  home,  and  got  a  wider 
outlook,  a  new  interest  was  shown  in  the  work 
abroad.  The  new  era  in  Home  Missions  and 
philanthropy,  which  is  so  well  named  the  Evan- 
gelical Revival,  was  coincident  with  the  new  era 
in  the  work  abroad,  and  with  the  birth  of  all  the 
great  Missionary  societies. 

The  whole  history  of  the  Church  has  made  it 
clear  that,  so  long  as  these  two  halves  of  the  one 
whole  grow  side  by  side,  both  will  prosper  :  and  if 
this  be  acted  on,  the  dread  ice-age,  which  proved  so 
disastrous  to  the  sub-Reformation  churches,  will  not 
again  come  with  its  terrible  blight.  But  to  avert 
such  a  doom,  it  must  be  constantly  recognised  that 
these  two  halves  of  the  one  whole  have  been  joined 
by  God,  and  that  men  and  churches  can  only  put 
them  asunder  at  their  extreme  peril.  In  many 
respects  a  dead  orthodoxy  is  not  essentially 
dififerent  from  a  dead  heterodoxy,  and  all  through 
this  period  of  reaction  the  attitude  to  Missions  of 
those  who  were  grimly  orthodox  in  their  creed 
was  exactly  the  same  as  the  attitude  of  those  who 
had  come  under  the  power  of  a  Socinianism  which 
could  not  but  make  the  Gospel  of  none  effect. 

163 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

It  is  well  to  remember,  however,  that  even 
during  these  dreary  centuries  of  death  the  fire  on 
the  altar  never  quite  went  out,  and  the  embers 
which  were  to  be  fanned  into  the  bright  blaze  of 
the  Evangelical  Revival  were  never  wholly  ex- 
tinguished. 

Unhappily,  the  controversies  and  complications, 
and  even  the  corruptions,  of  the  ecclesiastical 
situation  in  Europe  were  being  carried  among 
the  heathen.  In  the  homelands  the  followers  of 
Ignatius  Loyola  had  set  themselves  to  undo 
the  work  of  the  Reformation,  and  were  able  at 
least  to  limit  it  and  to  prevent  the  reformation 
of  Rome  herself,  a  consummation  which  at  one 
time  seemed  not  improbable.  One  result  of  their 
campaign  was  that  the  various  European  nations 
had  to  make  their  choice,  and  a  portentous  choice 
it  proved  to  be.  Those  peoples  which  then  chose  to 
be  free  from  Rome  are  free  still  ;  while  those  which 
stood  by  her  then  are  still,  willingly  or  unwillingly, 
in  her  toils,  and  sharing  in  her  degradation. 

But  the  representatives  of  Rome  also  sought  to 
redress  her  losses  in  the  Old  World  by  conquests 
in  the  New  World  as  well  as  among  the  ancient 
heathen  peoples  on  the  other  continents.  The 
great  territories  of  the  Far  East  which  were  still 
closed  to  Protestantism  were  open  to  them  wherever 
the  flags  of  Spain  and  Portugal  waved.     But  while 

164 


The  Era  of  Deformation 

they  often  met  with  apparent  success,  a  success 
which  was  all  the  more  rapid  because  it  was  so 
superficial  and  unspiritual,  in  not  a  few  cases  the 
end  was  terribly  disastrous.  In  Japan,  for  example, 
we  have  an  outstanding  instance  of  how  their  work 
was  done,  and  of  what  ensued.  To  this  day  the 
evil  reputation  of  these  early  Romish  Missionaries 
survives  among  the  Japanese,  and  has  been  a 
serious  barrier  to  the  Gospel  playing  its  proper 
part  in  this  era  of  the  regeneration  of  what  may 
yet  be  the  Britain  of  the  Eastern  Seas.  Before 
the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century  it  was  claimed 
that  the  Jesuits  had  no  fewer  than  600,000  ad- 
herents in  Japan.  It  has,  however,  to  be  borne 
in  mind  in  connection  with  this  and  similar 
claims  that  they  are  often  quite  unfounded  and 
unreliable.  That  is  admitted  even  by  Roman 
Catholic  authorities ;  as,  for  instance,  when  the 
Secretary  of  the  Congregatio  de  projoaganda 
fide  says  in  a  report  to  Pope  Innocent  xi.  (1676- 
1689)  that  "it  seems  to  be  the  constant  opinion 
of  all  the  members  of  the  congregation  that  little 
credit  is  to  be  given  to  the  Relations,  Letters,  and 
Supplications  that  come  from  the  Missionaries." 

In  any  case,  the  Japanese  authorities  l)ecame 
suspicious,  as  well  they  might,  that  the  Missionary 
invasion  was  in  reality  a  Western  conspiracy  for 
the  destruction  of  their  national  independence,  and 

165 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

resolved  to  crush  out  the  new  movement.  From 
1615  onwards  a  bitter  persecution  was  waged,  and 
in  1624  all  foreigners  except  the  Dutch  and  the 
Chinese  were  expelled  from  the  country,  and  the 
long  seclusion  of  Japan  was  begun.  The  strange 
thing  about  the  persecution,  however,  was  that 
although,  as  Guysbert  points  out,  the  martyrs  knew 
little  about  the  Christian  religion  except  the  Lord's 
Prayer,  the  Ave  Maria,  and  a  few  other  church 
prayers,  and  were  quite  destitute  of  the  Scriptures, 
they  met  their  fate  with  much  heroism.  Not  only 
so,  but  when  Japan  was  opened  up  at  length  in 
modern  times,  traces  were  found  in  the  villages 
around  Nagasaki  of  the  work  done  in  the  seven- 
teenth century,  inadequate  and  even  unworthy  as 
that  work  had  been.  To  all  intents  and  purposes, 
however,  the  edifice  which  the  Jesuits  had  reared 
was  entirely  demolished,  and  another  illustration 
was  given  of  the  fact,  too  often  overlooked,  that 
the  blood  of  the  martyrs  is  not  necessarily  the  seed 
of  the  Church. 

History  declares  with  no  uncertain  sound  that 
the  work  of  the  Jesuits  in  the  Far  East  left  no 
perceptible  impression  on  the  moral  and  spiritual 
character  of  the  people  among  whom  they  laboured, 
a  truly  remarkable  result  of  movements  which 
seemed  so  successful  for  a  time.  Yet  their  failure 
can  easily  be  understood  if  the  description  w^liich 

i66 


The  Era  of  Deformation 

Xavier  himself  has  left  of  his  Missionary  methods 
is  borne  in  mind. 

Speaking  of  his  work  among  the  pearl  fishers  of 
Tuticorin,  he  says :  "In  each  village  I  leave  one 
copy  of  the  Christian  Instruction.  I  appoint  all 
to  assemble  on  festival  days  and  to  chaunt  the 
rudiments  of  the  Christian  faith ;  and  in  each 
village  I  appoint  a  fit  person  to  preside.  For 
their  wages,  the  Viceroy  at  my  request  has  as- 
signed four  thousand  gold  fanims.  Multitudes  in 
these  parts  are  not  Christians  only  because  none 
are  found  to  make  them  Christians."  ''Here  I  am 
almost  alone  from  the  time  that  Anthony  re- 
mained sick  at  Manapar ;  and  I  find  it  an  incon- 
venient position  to  be  in,  in  the  midst  of  a  people 
of  an  unknown  tongue  without  the  assistance  of  an 
interpreter.  Roderick,  indeed,  who  is  here,  acts  as 
an  interpreter  in  the  place  of  Anthony ;  but  you 
know  well  how  much  they  know  of  Portuguese. 
Conceive,  therefore,  what  kind  of  life  I  live  in  this 
place,  what  kind  of  sermons  I  am  able  to  address 
to  the  assemblies,  when  they  who  should  repeat 
my  address  to  the  people  do  not  understand  me 
nor  I  them.  I  ought  to  be  an  adept  in  dumb 
show.  Yet  I  am  not  without  work  ;  for  I  want  no 
interpreter  to  baptize  children  just  born,  or  those 
whom  their  parents  bring,  nor  to  relieve  the 
famishing  and  the  naked  who  come  my  way.     So 

167 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

I  devote  myself  to  these  two  kinds  of  good  works, 
and  do  not  regard  my  time  as  lost." 

Nor  is  it  in  the  Far  East  alone  that  such  methods 
and  such  results  are  found.  In  the  region  of 
the  Congo,  too,  where  such  magnificent  triumphs 
have  been  won  by  modern  Missionary  effort, 
spasmodic  attempts  were  made  by  Portuguese 
Missionaries  from  the  fifteenth  century.  By  the 
year  1584,  a  native  king  had  even  been  baptized 
and  a  cathedral  built  at  Ambasse  (Sao  Salvador). 
Towards  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
however,  the  Portuguese  Government  expelled 
all  religious  orders ;  and  when  the  Baptist 
Missionaries  began  their  work  in  1879,  the 
Congo  territory  was  to  all  intents  and  purposes 
a  heathen  land.  Nor  is  it  surprising  to  find  that 
these  Missions,  and  others  like  them,  were  dogged 
with  failure  when  it  is  found  out  what  conver- 
sion to  Christ  in  their  case  often  meant.  There 
also  evangelisation  by  the  language  of  dumb  show 
has  been  weighed  in  the  balances  and  found 
wanting. 

It  is  all  very  strange,  even  weirdly  so ;  and  it 
reveals  how  widely  the  poison  of  pagan  superstition 
had  spread  in  the  Romish  Church,  and  how  com- 
pletely sacerdotalism  in  its  worst  forms  of  magical 
efficacy  had  taken  hold  of  Romanism  at  its  best. 
History    has    passed    its    verdict    on    these   sub- 

i68 


The  Era  of  Deformation 

Reformation  Missions  of  the  Romish  Church,  and 
has  put  the  stamp  of  unequivocal  condemnation  on 
them  and  on  all  who  follow  in  the  ways  in  which 
they  went.  He  that  hath  ears,  let  him  hear  what 
the  Spirit  says. 

Nor  were  the  Protestant  churches  altogether 
idle  or  indifferent  throughout  this  sad  time  of 
declension.  What  may  be  thought  of  as  the 
first  Protestant  Missionary  Society  was  formed 
by  the  Long  Parliament  in  1649,  through  the 
creation  of  a  corporation  called  the  "  President 
and  Society  for  the  Propagating  of  the  Gospel  in 
New  England."  This  was  done  in  response  to 
a  petition  sent  to  Parliament  in  1641  by  some 
seventy  English  and  Scottish  ministers,  and  a 
resolution  of  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts 
which  ordered  the  County  Courts  to  see  to  it  that 
the  Indians  residing  within  their  respective  shires 
should  be  instructed  in  the  knowledge  and  wor- 
ship of  God.  The  Red  Indians  were  the  first 
heathen  to  become  British  subjects ;  and  on  the 
principle  of  beginning  first  at  Jerusalem,  Crom- 
well and  the  Puritans  naturally  began  Foreign 
Mission  work  among  them.  That  they  did  so 
affords  some  proof  that  there  is  something  in  the 
plea  that  the  inaction  of  the  Reformers  was  largely 
due  to  the  lack  of  opportunity  and  geographical 
propinquity. 

169 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

Among  others  who  were  aided  and  encouraged 
by  this  Society  was  John  Eliot,  the  earliest 
Puritan  Missionary  of  note.  He  was  born  in 
Essex  in  the  year  1604  ;  and  when  he  died  in  1690, 
at  the  age  of  eighty-six,  with  the  words  "  welcome," 
"joy,"  on  his  lips,  he  had  the  satisfaction  of  know- 
ing that  there  were  eleven  hundred  Indian  members 
in  the  six  congregations  he  had  been  able  to  form, 
and  that  two  of  these  congregations  were  under 
native  pastors.  The  good  work  begun  so  well, 
even  if  somewhat  tardily,  was  carried  on  by  other 
like-minded  pioneers,  among  them  being  David 
Brainerd,  the  ever-memorable  Missionary  to  the 
Indians.  This  latter  died  in  1747,  at  the  early 
age  of  thirty,  but  his  brief  Missionary  career  of 
three  years  was  full  not  only  of  ceaseless  labours 
but  of  abundant  fruit.  And  even  as  the  British 
colonists  in  North  America  were  thus  endeavour- 
ing in  some  little  measure  to  realise  their  respon- 
sibilities to  those  among  whom  their  lot  had  been 
cast,  so  it  was  also  to  some  extent  with  the 
Dutch  colonists  who  had  now  in  the  providence 
of  God  replaced  the  Portuguese  in  the  Far  East. 

On  the  continent  of  Europe,  too,  the  influence 
of  Pietism  was  beginning  to  be  felt ;  and,  under 
the  power  of  sporadic  revivals  of  heart-religion, 
many  were  being  stirred  by  pity  for  the  heathen 
out  in  the  wilderness.      Whenever  men   feel   the 

170 


The  Era  of  Deformation 

true  wortli  of  the  Gospel  for  themselves,  they  soon 
begin  to  pity  those  who  know  nothing  of  the 
comfort  and  gladness  which  it  brings. 

The  earliest  Mission  to  grow  out  of  this  move- 
ment was  begun  in  Denmark  by  Dr.  Lutkens,  one 
of  the  Royal  chaplains,  and  in  his  endeavours  he 
had  the  support  of  King  Frederick  the  Fourth. 
The  men  whom  he  sent  out  to  Tranquebar,  on 
the  South-east  coast  of  India,  had  been  trained  in 
the  atmosphere  of  German  Pietism.  The  Mission 
itself,  indeed,  owed  more  to  the  efforts  of  Francke, 
the  renowned  founder  of  the  orphan  house  at 
Halle,  than  it  did  even  to  the  Danish  king  and  his 
good  chaplain,  and  it  is  appropriately  called  the 
Danish-Halle  Mission. 

The  two  Missionaries  who  were  sent  out  first 
were  the  famous  Ziegenbalg  and  a  brother  in  arms 
called  Plutschau.  They  did  not  reach  Tranquebar 
till  July  1706,  having  spent  more  than  seven 
months  on  the  way.  From  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  at  which  they  touched  and  where  the  Dutch 
were  then  masters,  they  sent  home  such  a  lament- 
able account  of  the  condition  of  the  Hottentots 
that  the  Moravians  were  moved  to  begin  the  first 
Mission  to  South  Africa.  There  w^ere  indeed  in- 
dications of  a  new  spirit  now  in  various  quarters, 
and  a  new  readiness  to  respond  to  the  appeal  of 
need ;  and  the  accounts  which  Ziegenbalg  sent  to 

171 


The  Call  of  the  New   Era 

Francke,  regarding  the  progress  of  the  work  at 
Tranquebar,  raised  up  many  friends  for  the  novel 
enterprise.  Amongst  others,  King  George  the 
First  of  England,  a  strange  personage  to  be  in- 
terested in  Missionary  effort,  sent  a  letter  rejoicing 
in  the  work,  and  expressing  gratitude  that  in 
England  too  a  laudable  zeal  for  the  promotion  of 
the  Gospel  now  prevailed. 

The  great  Missionary  church  of  the  Moravian 
Brethren  also  received  part  at  least  of  its  jfirst 
Missionary  impulse  from  the  same  Pietists  who 
inspired  the  work  at  Tranquebar.  In  that  con- 
nection there  now  appears  the  name  of  the  famous 
Count  Zinzendorf,  on  whose  estates  the  perse- 
cuted fugitives  from  Moravia  had  settled  in  1722. 
Incited  by  the  story  of  the  sufferings  of  the 
negroes  in  St.  Thomas,  in  the  West  Indies,  and  of 
the  patient  although  unsuccessful  labours  of  Hans 
Egede,  a  Norwegian  pastor,  in  Greenland,  Zinzen- 
dorf and  his  friends  determined  to  send  two  of 
their  number  to  each  of  these  fields  of  service. 
This  was  in  the  year  1732  ;  and  ere  another  quarter 
of  a  century  had  elapsed,  eighteen  Missionaries  had 
gone  forth,  without  purse  or  wallet,  from  Herrnhut, 
to  plant  stations  in  the  waste  places  of  the  earth, 
and  to  gather  a  community  from  among  the 
heathen  which  was  destined  by  and  by  to  out- 
number fur  the  community  in  the  mother  church 

172 


The  Era  of  Deformation 

at  home.  The  distinction  of  the  Moravian  Church 
among  all  other  Missionary  churches  is  that  ever 
since  1732  it  has  been  Missionary  in  the  sense  in 
which  the  Early  Church  was  Missionary — that  is, 
every  member  is  a  Missionary,  and  the  question 
of  his  sphere  is  simply  a  matter  of  geographical 
arrangement. 

Yet  these  Pietist  Missions  for  long  -were  no  more 
than  points  of  light  which  made  the  surrounding- 
darkness  the  more  visible.  The  organised  churches 
of  the  living  God  stood  aloof  as  yet  in  their 
ignorance  and  selfishness,  and  the  influence  of 
these  early  heroic  Missionaries  was  less  than  might 
have  been  expected.  Perhaps  the  time  had  not 
yet  come  for  the  great  forward  movement ; 
and  these  brave  Missionary  pioneers  were  not 
only  few  in  number  and  often  untrained  and 
even  uneducated,  but  they  entirely  reversed,  as 
we  have  seen,  the  method  of  the  Missionaries 
of  Apostolic  and  post -Apostolic  days  in  one 
very  important  particular.  The  Apostles  and 
their  successors  assailed  the  strategic  centres, 
and  went  where  Satan's  synagogues  were..  These 
eighteenth-century  Missionaries,  on  the  other  hand, 
went  to  tribes  so  obscure  or  so  savage  that  even 
successful  work  among  them  hardly  told  on  the 
great  citadels  of  heathenism,  or  on  the  great  non- 
Christian   and    anti- Christian  systems.       "  It  was 

^7Z 


The  Call   of  the  New  Era 

magnificent,  but  it  was  not  war " ;  and  while  the 
men  of  every  age  must  seek  to  face  the  new  duties 
and  appeals  of  their  time  in  the  new  light  which 
the  Holy  Spirit  never  fails  to  send,  the  Apostolic 
method  in  this  respect  was  most  abundantly 
justified  by  the  result. 

In  any  case,  the  fact  remains  that,  as  the  Evan- 
gelical Revival  drew  near,  it  can  hardly  be  said  that 
modern  Missions  emerged  from  these  eighteenth- 
century  efi'orts,  any  more  than  it  can  be  said  that 
the  Reformation  grew  out  of  the  work  of  "  the 
Reformers  before  the  Reformation."  Indeed,  as 
has  so  often  been  the  case,  the  darkness  seemed 
only  to  grow  deeper  as  the  dawn  drew  nearer. 
During  the  second  half  of  the  eighteenth  century 
it  almost  appeared  as  if  Evangelical  religion  had 
died  out  in  the  churches.  The  Reformation  had 
apparently  spent  itself,  and  the  time  of  the  next 
awakening  had  not  yet  come. 

An  apologist  for  this  era  of  reaction  and  death 
says  that  the  Reformed  Churches  spent  the 
seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  in  presenting 
the  Gospel  to  Europe,  and  then  in  the  nineteenth 
century  went  out  to  declare  it  to  the  heathen. 
But  such  a  statement  does  more  credit  to  the 
writer's  imagination  and  to  his  powers  of  anti- 
thesis and  generalisation  than  to  his  historic  sense, 
for  nothing  could  be  a  more  inadequate  description 

174 


The  Era  of  Deformation 

of  what  actually  took  place.  In  the  closing  decades, 
Methodism  apart,  the  Gospel  was  hardly  ever 
preached  either  in  Europe  or  among  the  heathen, 
if  by  the  Gospel  is  meant  the  glad  tidings  of  the 
grace  of  God.  Here  and  there  in  England  and 
Germany  a  few  scattered  communities  of  Moravians 
and  Methodists,  of  Puritans  and  Baptists,  heard 
the  good  news  of  salvation  for  the  world,  and 
received  it ;  although  even  they  often  seemed  to 
be  afraid  to  take  their  Father,  too  literally,  at  His 
word. 

In  Scotland,  too,  during  these  years  what  were 
called  the  Praying  Societies  arose,  little  gatherings 
of  cottars  and  weavers  in  town  and  country,  who 
drew  together  around  Christ,  and  ultimately  became 
centres  of  light  and  leading  when  the  day  broke. 
But  even  in  the  homelands  the  Gospel  was  chilly, 
as  became  the  Evangel  of  an  ice-age ;  and  the 
grim  reality  of  the  frost  may  be  imagined  when 
we  discover  that  the  blight  of  rationalism  and  un- 
belief fell  even  on  the  Missionaries  out  at  the  front, 
where  for  a  time  the  lights  had  been  shining  like 
stars  in  the  thick  darkness. 

That  the  very  light  had  become  darkness  gives 
some  conception  of  how  dense  the  darkness  was. 
But  this  was  only  another  reminder  that  the  work 
of  God  is  one  and  indivisible,  although  the  re- 
minder comes  to  us  in  an  unusually  pathetic  way. 

175 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

It  is  not  only  the  case  that  Foreign  Mission  work  re- 
acts on  the  life  of  the  churches  at  home,  and  brings 
blessing  there,  and  that  those  who  are  not  loyal 
at  home  will  not  be  very  eager  abroad ;  it  is  also 
the  case  that  the  home  churches  may  so  react  on 
the  work  abroad  as  to  bring  decay  and  disaster 
on  them.  They  cannot  but  stand  or  fall  together  ; 
and  instead  of  it  being  specially  easy  to  keep  the 
spiritual  life  fresh  and  pure  out  at  the  front,  it  is 
very  easy  to  be  influenced  adversely  by  the  impact 
of  heathenism  and  the  j)ersistence  of  the  heathen 
atmosphere.  The  Church  abroad  must  continually 
draw  inspiration  from  the  Church  at  home,  as  well  as 
convey  such  inspiration  back  in  return.  A  healthy 
church  must  be  active  on  both  sides  of  the  im- 
aginary line  which  men  draw,  and  which  God  in 
His  providence  persistently  ignores. 

What  a  portent  it  was  that  even  the  Danish- 
Halle  Mission,  associated  for  ever  with  the  names 
of  Francke  and  Ziegenbalg,  was  ultimately  under- 
mined by  the  same  subtle  foe  which  had  sapped 
the  churches  at  home !  That  Mission  had  indeed 
begun  most  hopefully.  Within  ten  months  of  the 
arrival  of  the  Missionaries  at  Tranquebar,  they  had 
the  joy  of  baptizing  five  adults,  heathen  slaves  of 
Danish  masters,  while  only  four  months  later  nine 
Hindu  converts  were  baptized.  Yet  ere  the 
fatal  eighteenth  century  had  come  to  an  end,  the 

176 


The  Era  of  Deformation 

Mission  was  only  saved  by  being  taken  over  by 
some  Church  of  England  Missionaries,  who  cared 
for  it  until  the  Dresden-Leipzig  Lutheran  Mission 
took  it  up  again  in  happier  days  of  revival  and 
quickening. 

The  dawn,  however,  was  now  at  hand ;  and 
among  the  harbingers  of  its  coming  were  some 
of  the  Missionary  hymns  which  are  still  in  use. 
The  Church  is  never  so  winsome  and  attractive, 
nor  yet  so  aggressive,  as  when  she  is  engaged  in 
praising  her  Lord.  Early  in  the  eighteenth 
century  the  first  foreign  Missionary  hymn 
appeared,  that  of  Bogatzky,  "Wake  up,  thou 
spirit  of  the  first  martyrs,"  as  it  is  in  its  English 
dress.  Watts'  hymn,  "  Jesus  shall  reign  where'er 
the  sun,"  was  written  in  1719  ;  and  Williams's 
hymn,  "  O'er  the  gloomy  hills  of  darkness,"  in 
1722;  while  "Arm  of  the  Lord,  awake,  awake," 
"  Behold  the  mountain  of  the  Lord,"  and  "  Sing 
to  the  Lord  in  joyful  strains,"  all  appeared  before 
the  middle  of  the  century. 

Once  again,  therefore,  it  must  be  insisted  on 
that  there  has  always  been  a  faithful  remnant ; 
and  even  during  this  degenerate  age  this  was 
made  evident  in  various  ways.  Among  those 
who  helped  to  redeem  it,  there  are  two  names 
which  towards  its  close  stand  out  in  special 
splendour,  and  who  also  did  much  to  hasten  the 

N.E.— 12  177 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

brighter  time  which  was  to  come — Christian 
Friedrich  Schwartz  and  William  Carey. 

The  former  of  these  heroes,  who  was  born  in 
1726  and  died  in  1798,  was  a  Prussian.  From 
his  birth  his  mother  dedicated  him  to  the  service 
of  the  Saviour,  and  in  due  time  he  was  sent  to 
study  at  Halle,  under  Francke.  It  is  one  of  the 
features  of  this  period  that  in  the  story  of  it  we 
are  continually  coming  across  the  name  of  Francke, 
wherever  good  work  was  being  done  either  at  home 
or  abroad.  Nearly  everything  that  was  then  done 
to  extend  the  Kingdom  of  Christ  can  be  traced 
directly  or  indirectly  back  to  one  common  con- 
secrated source,  that  of  the  German  Pietists.  So 
much  can  even  one  ray  of  light  do  to  illumine  the 
darkness. 

At  Halle,  Schwartz  came  into  contact  with 
Schultze,  one  of  Ziegenbalg's  earliest  colleagues 
at  Tranquebar,  who  was  at  home  arranging  for 
the  printing  of  a  new  edition  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment in  Tamil.  Schwartz  himself  went  out  into 
the  firing  line  in  his  twenty-third  year,  in  spite  of 
all  the  protests  of  his  friends ;  and  in  those  days, 
and  from  the  standpoint  of  that  generation,  it  must 
have  seemed  peculiarly  insane  to  do  such  a  thing. 
But  long  after,  and  when  his  work  was  nearly  at 
an  end,  his  own  testimony  was  this :  "  I  am 
now  on  the  brink  of  eternity,  but  to  this  moment 

178 


The  Era  of  Deformation 

I  declare  that  I  do  not  repent  having  spent  forty - 
three  years  in  the  service  of  my  Divine  Master 
Who  knows  but  God  may  remove  some  of  the 
great  obstacles  to  the  propagation  of  the  Gospel  ? 
Should  a  Reformation  take  place  among  the 
Europeans,  it  would  no  doubt  be  the  greatest 
blessing  to  the  country."  He  did  not  live  to  see 
it,  but  many  of  the  obstacles  which  he  deplored 
were  ere  long  to  be  swept  away  by  the  mighty 
hand  of  God. 

When  Schwartz  went  out  to  India,  the  East  India 
Company — which  later  on  was  to  be  at  first  un- 
friendly to  Carey  and  others — not  only  gave  him 
a  free  passage,  but  afforded  him  such  countenance 
as  secured  him  peace  in  his  work.  And  he  did 
a  great  work,  alike  in  the  Company's  territories 
and  in  Mysore.  He  laid  the  foundation  of  the 
Native  Christian  Church  of  India,  which  on  its  Pro- 
testant side  alone  has  now  more  than  a  million 
members.  He  was  the  first  to  establish  Christian 
vernacular  schools ;  for,  like  all  the  other  great 
Missionaries,  he  put  much  importance  on  the  work 
of  education.  He  was  the  first,  too,  to  anticipate 
famine  and  make  provision  for  it,  after  1780,  by 
storing  rice  which  went  to  feed  not  only  the  dying- 
natives  but  also  British  troops.  His  ward,  Raja 
Serfoji,  erected  a  Christian  church  and  manse  in 
his  fort ;  and  when  the  Missionary  died,  both  this 

179 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

Hindu  Prince  and  the  East  India  Conapany  erected 
splendid  memorials  to  him.  As  a  proof  and 
instance  of  the  kind  of  influence  which  he  exerted 
and  of  the  impression  which  his  work  made,  it 
is  on  record  that  when  the  Madras  Government 
were  negotiating  with  the  famous  Hyder  Ali,  he 
said :  "  Send  me  the  Christian :  he  will  not 
deceive  me." 

The  noble  work  for  India  which  was  done  by 
Schwartz  was  greatly  extended  by  William  Carey, 
who  appeared  at  the  seat  of  war  in  1793,  five  years 
before  his  forerunner  died.  Carey,  who  was  the 
first  Englishman  to  become  a  Missionary  to  the 
East,  was  born  in  Northamptonshire,  on  17th 
August,  1761,  just  when  the  darkness  before  the 
dawn  was  at  its  worst.  He  was  apprenticed  to 
a  shoemaker  when  he  was  fourteen.  Four  years 
later  he  was  converted  and  became  a  Dissenter. 
When  he  was  twenty-six  he  was  ordained  as 
Baptist  minister  at  Moulton.  Thereafter  he  was 
minister  at  Leicester,  in  the  congregation  which  was 
afterwards  presided  over  by  the  famous  preacher, 
Robert  Hall. 

He  grew  up  amid  the  forces  which  in  France 
brought  about  the  epoch-making  Revolution  of  1789, 
and  which  in  reality  were  revolutionary  on  both 
sides  of  the  Channel.  In  this  country  these  forces 
were  only  prevented   from  culminating  in  horrors 

i8o 


The  Era  of  Deformation 

like  those  which  desolated  France,  by  the  new 
religious  influences  which,  without  observation  of 
men,  were  beginning  to  lay  hold  of  the  very  classes 
that  would  otherwise  have  been  most  dangerous. 
The  same  yearnings  which,  when  they  were  per- 
verted reared  the  guillotine  in  France,  when  they 
were  sympathetically  directed  sent  Carey  across 
the  seas  to  his  work  among  the  heathen,  and 
roused  Wilberforce  to  his  saving,  healing  work 
at  home. 

Carey  was  a  shrewd  thinker,  a  keen  observer, 
and  very  diligent  and  studious  withal ;  while 
his  linguistic  powers  were  of  the  most  remark- 
able order.  In  spite  of  vast  hindrances,  he  ac- 
quired Latin,  Greek,  French,  Dutch,  and  Hebrew. 
From  1781  he  never  ceased  to  insist  that  it  was 
the  Church's  duty  to  send  the  Gospel  to  the 
heathen ;  and  steadily,  if  slowly,  the  influence  of 
his  appeal  grew.  Scott  the  commentator  speaks 
of  the  cobbler's  shop  at  Hackleton  as  "Carey's 
College,"  while  Andrew  Fuller  tells  how  he  found 
him  at  his  stall  in  Moulton,  with  a  map  of  the 
world  pasted  up  on  it,  and  on  this  the  religious  and 
political  statistics  of  all  the  nations  were  set  forth 
as  they  were  then  known. 

In  1792  he  published  his  book  entitled  An 
Enquiry  into  the  Obligations  of  Christians  to 
use  Means  for  the  Conversion  of  the  Heathen,  a 

i8i 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

wonderful  and  unique  combination  of  accurate 
information,  wide  generalisation,  and  impassioned 
appeal.  Eventually,  on  the  second  day  of  October 
in  that  same  year  of  grace  1792,  the  Baptist 
Missionary  Society  was  founded  at  Kettering,  in 
a  house  which  is  still  visible  to  passers-by  on  the 
Midland  Railway.  A  constitution  was  drawn  up, 
and  a  collection  was  taken  in  a  horn  box  which 
was  exhibited  in  1908  at  the  Orient  Exhibition  in 
London.  The  twelve  ministers  present  contributed 
no  less  than  £13  2s.  6d.  It  is  well  worth  noticing 
that  these  heroic  founders  of  the  first  EnoHsh  Mis- 

O 

sionary  Society  were  all  predestinarians,  and  that 
they  were  loyal  to  what  they  believed  to  be  true 
Calvinism — the  Calvinism  of  Paul  and  Augustine 
and  Columba,  the  Calvinism  which  makes  election 
a  means  of  grace,  the  Calvinism  of  Wyclif  and 
Knox  and  probably  Calvin  himself,  as  distinguished 
from  the  false  teaching  which  had  emasculated 
Christianity  and  arrested  the  Church  of  the 
Reformation. 

William  Carey  landed  in  India  in  1793,  and  after 
forty-one  wonderful  years  spent  in  Bengal  without 
a  break,  he  died  on  9th  June,  1834,  having  rendered 
to  the  cause  of  the  Gospel  services  which  can  never 
be  forgotten.  He  served  Christ  and  India  with 
the  best  he  had,  which  was  much ;  his  linguistic 
work,  for  instance,  being   invaluable  not  only  to 

182 


The  Era  of  Deformation 

the  cause  of  Missions  but  to  the  science  of  philology. 
During  these  fruitful  years  the  ScrijDtures  were 
translated  into  the  vernacular,  schools  and  the 
Serampore  College  were  opened,  Medical  Mission 
work  was  begun,  converts  were  won  and  trained 
to  win  others,  and  churches  were  established.  In  a 
word,  the  foundations  were  wisely  and  firmly  laid 
for  all  the  wonderful  and  varied  Mission  work 
which  is  now  being  carried  on  so  zealously  and  so 
successfully  in  our  vast  Indian  Empire. 

The  careers  of  these  two  outstanding  Indian 
Missionaries  suggest  a  passing  reflection  on  the 
influence,  in  connection  with  the  spread  of  the 
Gospel,  which  has  been  exerted  by  the  East 
India  Company.  At  first,  as  we  saw,  it  had  a 
religious  basis,  which  Charles  Grant,  as  twice 
its  Chairman,  and  his  sons,  Sir  Robert  Grant 
and  Lord  Glenelg,  always  built  upon.  But 
by  and  by,  and  perhaps  necessarily,  that  disap- 
peared ;  and  those  who  directed  its  truly  Imperial 
affairs  concerned  themselves  only  with  trade,  and 
with  Government  merely  as  an  incident  of  their 
trading  operations.  As  was  noted,  they  gave 
Schwartz  a  free  passage  and  encouraged  him  in  his 
work ;  but  when  Carey  went  out  they  did  all  they 
could  to  hinder  and  hamper  him,  for  political  ends. 
Indeed,  he  had  to  go  out  to  India  in  a  Danish 
vessel.     The  same  policy  drove  Newell  to  Ceylon, 

■83 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

and  Judson  to  Burma,  and  was  thus  overruled  by 
God  for  the  extension  of  His  Kingdom.  It  likewise 
kept  out  the  Haldanes,  although  unconsciously 
this  brought  much  blessing  on  the  homeland,  and 
especially  Scotland. 

Yet  it  cannot  be  gainsaid  by  any  reverent 
student  that  God  gave  India  to  Great  Britain 
for  gracious  ends,  and  in  order  to  subserve  the 
progress  of  Mission  work  in  Asia.  At  its  best, 
the  Company  was  little  more  than  neutral,  while 
at  its  worst  its  officials  were  persecuting  ;  but,  all 
the  same,  it  proved  to  be  a  great  jprceparatio 
evangelica  all  over  Southern  Asia.  It  did  for  the 
Missionary  in  the  Far  East  something  not  unlike 
what  the  Roman  Empire  did  for  the  Missionaries 
in  the  first  Christian  centuries.  It  secured  order 
where  there  had  been  anarchy,  and  it  brought 
peace  where  there  were  only  interminable  wars. 
It  made  roads  and  even  railways,  it  developed  the 
postal  system  and  means  of  intercommunication 
generally ;  and  in  many  ways  it  helped  to  quicken 
the  conscience  of  the  churches  at  home,  when  by 
and  by  the  Evangelical  Revival  had  begun  to  create 
such  a  conscience. 

At  times,  it  is  true,  the  Company  may  have 
done  this  through  its  opposition  to  Missions ;  but 
it  also  did  it  by  those  pensioned  officials  who 
came  home  after  their  work  was  done,  and  who 

184 


The  Era  of  Deformation 

were  able  to  tell  what  it  was  that  India  really 
needed  most.  And  it  helped  in  other  ways,  as, 
for  example,  when,  moved  by  Charles  Grant, 
Charles  Simeon  was  able  to  arrange  for  five 
Evangelical  ministers  to  go  out  technically  as 
chaplains  but  in  reality  as  Missionaries.  Their 
names  are  sufficient  to  show  how  truly  they  were 
more  than  official  chaplains :  Henry  Martyn, 
Claudius  Buchanan,  Daniel  Corrie,  David  Brown, 
and  Thomas  Thomason. 

One  of  the  Directors  of  the  Company  once  said 
that  he  would  rather  see  a  band  of  devils  landing 
in  India  than  a  band  of  Missionaries ;  but  these 
chaplains  of  the  Company  did  splendid  Missionary 
work  alike  among  the  Europeans  and  the  natives. 
We  find  as  proof  of  this  that  Carey  wrote  in  1806  : 
"  A  young  clergyman,  Mr.  Martyn,  is  lately  arrived, 
who  is  possessed  of  a  truly  Missionary  spirit.  We 
take  sweet  counsel  together,  and  go  to  the  House  of 
God  as  friends."  And  at  another  time  we  find  him 
writing :  "  Wherever  Mr.  Martyn  is  placed,  he  will 
save  us  the  expense  of  a  Missionary." 

Most  manifestly  God  gave  India  to  Britain  that 
that  great  Empire  of  the  East  might  be  brought 
under  civilising  and  Christianising  influences.  It 
is  not  Jingoism  or  even  blind  Imperialism  to  say 
that  no  political  factor  has  done  so  much  for  the 
development  of  Mission   work   as  the  Empire  of 

185 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

Great  Britain  in  the  East — the  Opium  Traffic  and 
much  else  notwithstanding.  But  there  is  another 
side  to  all  this — and  it  is  becoming  more  and  more 
evident  that,  unless,  along  with  Western  culture, 
Britain  gives  India  and  her  awakening  millions  the 
civilisation  which  the  Gospel  alone  can  secure,  it 
will  not  be  possible  for  her  to  retain  her  hold.  If 
she  dissociates  herself  from  Christianity,  she  robs 
herself  of  her  strength,  and  destroys  her  Divine 
and  even  historical  warrant  for  being  in  India  at  all. 
The  East  India  Company  was  primarily  a  commercial 
concern,  and  may  have  been  afraid  of  its  profits,  if 
the  light  of  Divine  truth  shone  too  clearly  in  the 
land  ;  doubtless  some  things  were  done  which  could 
not  stand  a  very  close  scrutiny.  But  so  far  as 
the  Imperial  Government  is  concerned,  she  has 
nothing  to  gain  and  everything  to  lose  by  turning 
a  cold  shoulder  to  the  Missionaries,  who  are  the  best 
friends  she  has ;  and  not  a  few  of  the  noblest  of 
our  Indian  statesmen  are  the  foremost  to  declare 
that  she  already  owes  more  than  tongue  can  tell 
to  what  the  Missionaries  have  done. 

What  her  debt  will  be  when  all  that  great 
Empire  has  been  illumined  by  Divine  truth  and 
won  for  Christ,  who  can  estimate  ?  But  may 
the  time  soon  come  for  trying  to  form  such  an 
estimate  !  The  disintegrating  forces  cannot  now  be 
kept  out  of  any  land,  and  they  are  nowhere  busier 

1 86 


The  Era  of  Deformation 

than  ill  India.  The  Gospel  alone  can  reintegrate. 
The  Gospel  alone  can  put  the  social  order  there, 
or  anywhere,  on  an  enduring  foundation.  The 
cry,  "  India  for  Christ,"  should  come  with  peculiar 
significance  and  power  to  all  British  Christians. 


187 


CHAPTER   VII 
THE   EVANGELICAL  REVIVAL 


189 


"  How  beautiful  upon  the  mountains  are  the  feet  of  him  that 
bringeth  good  tidings,  that  publisheth  peace." — IsA.  52.  7. 

"  The  tools  belong  to  the  man  who  can  use  them." — Napoleon. 

"  Christianity  is  more  human  than  Calvinism,  more  divine  than 
Arminianism,  and  more  Christian  than  either," 


190 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE   EVANGELICAL   REVIVAL 

"  rpHE  Evangelical  Revival  in  England,  together 
-*-  with  the  new  sympathy  for  humanity  which 
manifested  itself  in  the  social  and  political  move- 
ments of  the  later  years  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
ushered  in  a  period  of  Missionary  activity ;  an 
era  which,  in  the  history  of  Missions,  is  only  less 
remarkable  than  the  first  of  the  Christian  centuries." 
Such  is  the  testimony  of  one  who  is  at  once  a 
thoroughly  competent  theologian  and  one  of  the 
wisest  of  modern  Church  historians.  And  it  is 
a  true  witness  to  what  was  achieved  in  those 
wondrous  years  of  quickening  from  the  presence 
of  the  Most  High  God,  of  which  we  are  still  en- 
joying many  of  the  fruits.  It  is  a  moderate 
estimate,  too,  of  the  place  which  the  Evangelical 
Revival  occupies  in  the  growth  of  the  Christian 
Church,  and  especially  of  Christian  Missions. 

There  had  been  local  and  sporadic  revivals  here 
and  there  all  through  the  eighteenth  century,  re- 

191 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

actionary  though  it  was,  especially  in  Great  Britain 
and  America.  Of  these  the  most  outstanding  was,  of 
course,  the  upheaval  which  will  always  be  associated 
with  the  great  names  of  Whitefield  and  the  Wesleys. 
Through  that  awakening,  the  doctrines  of  the 
Reformation — ^justification  by  faith  alone,  and  the 
direct  access  of  the  penitent  to  God — first  became 
real  for  the  common  people  of  England.  Until 
then  it  had  never  been  quite  correct  to  say  that 
they  had  heard  the  Gospel  gladly.  In  some  ways 
it  could  hardly  be  said  that  they  had  heard  it  at 
all,  and  in  that  regard  the  Methodist  Revival  did 
for  the  people  of  England  what  the  Reformation 
revival  had  done  long  before  for  the  poorest  both 
in  Germany  and  Scotland. 

There  have  been  few  greater  gifts  of  God  to 
His  Church  in  any  age,  even  the  Apostolic,  than 
the  gift  of  John  Wesley.  The  non-enthusiastic 
Lord  Macaulay  says  that  "  Wesley  conducted  one 
of  the  most  wonderful  moral  revolutions  the  world 
ever  saw.  His  eloquence  and  his  piercing  logic 
would  have  made  him  an  eminent  literary  man, 
and  his  genius  for  government  was  not  inferior 
to  that  of  Richelieu."  Mr.  Lecky,  too,  who  was 
still  farther  removed  than  Macaulay  from  any 
enthusiasm  for  evangelism,  expressly  asserts  his 
conviction,  that  it  was  the  influence  of  AVesley  and 
those  who  were  associated  with  him  which  saved 

192 


The  Evangelical  Revival 

Britain  from  horrors  like  those  in  which  the 
eighteenth  century  expired  in  France.  Nor  was 
the  English  revolution  any  the  less  real  or  effective 
that  we  were  spared  the  horrors. 

Strangely  enough,  however,  the  Foreign  Mission 
side  of  the  Methodist  movement  was  not  developed 
at  first ;  and  towards  the  end  of  this  period  of 
declension  and  death  which  has  just  been  dealt 
with,  it  would  almost  appear  as  if  even  the 
Methodist  Eevival  was  beginning  to  lose  its 
power,  so  subtle  and  all-pervading  was  the  in- 
fluence of  the  unbelieving  spirit  of  the  age.  And 
who  knows  whether  even  it  might  not  have  come 
under  the  power  of  the  blight  like  the  other 
movements  of  that  era,  had  not  the  appeal  of  the 
perishing  multitudes  in  the  regions  beyond  been 
heard  in  time  to  prevent  a  collapse  ?  With  the 
story  of  the  post-Keformation  Church  before  us, 
it  is  impossible  to  say  what  depths  might  have 
been  fathomed,  had  believers  continued  to  be  deaf 
alike  to  the  cry  of  the  perishing  heathen  and  to 
the  clear  and  unequivocal  command  of  their 
Lord. 

In  many  respects  the  last  decades  of  the 
eighteenth  century  present  noteworthy  analogies 
to  that  time  when  the  Lord  Himself,  the  Almighty 
Christ,  could  do  no  mighty  works  among  His  own 
people  because  of  their  unbelief,  and  when  He 
N.E.-13  193 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

could  only  heal  a  few  sick  folk  amongst  them. 
There  never  was  a  time  when  some  were  not 
being  healed,  but  the  general  state  of  the  Church 
was  almost  incredible  in  its  torpor  and  death. 
It  is,  indeed,  somewhat  difficult  for  us  in  happier 
times  to  realise  how  terrible  was  the  condition 
of  things  on  the  eve  of  the  new  Pentecost,  so 
much  has  the  outcome  of  it  changed  the  whole 
appearance  of  the  world  and  the  Church  alike. 
But  the  testimony  borne  to  the  reign  of  deepest 
and  almost  unbroken  darkness  is  overwhelming. 

The  eminent  lawyer  Blackstone,  writing  in 
1780,  says  that  on  his  removal  to  London  from 
Oxford  he  sought  out  every  outstanding  preacher 
in  the  metropolis,  and  this  is  his  report  of  what 
he  found :  "I  did  not  hear  a  single  discourse 
that  had  more  of  Christianity  in  it  than  the 
writings  of  Cicero.  I  never  could  discover  from 
what  I  heard  whether  the  preacher  was  a  follower 
of  Confucius,  or  of  Mohammed,  or  of  Christ." 

Hannah  More,  too,  gives  us  a  vivid  glimpse  of 
the  state  of  affairs  when  she  tells  that  on  one 
occasion  she  "  saw  but  one  Bible  in  the  parish  of 
Cheddar,  and  that  was  used  to  prop  a  flower-pot." 
And  even  she  was  somewhat  under  the  influence 
of  the  upas  tree,  for  in  her  plea  for  elementary 
education  she  confined  the  curriculum  to  the  Bible 
and  the  Catechism  and  "  such  books  as  may  fit  the 

194 


The  Evangelical  Revival 

children  for  servants.  I  allow  of  no  writing  for 
the  poor." 

"  There  is  a  general  decay  of  vital  religion  in  the 
hearts  and  lives  of  men,"  wrote  Isaac  Watts ;  and 
among  the  peasantry,  at  least  in  England,  there 
seems  to  have  been  no  moral  or  religious  training 
of  any  kind.  Nor  were  their  "betters"  in  any 
way  superior,  as  may  be  gathered  from  the  reply  of 
the  Duchess  of  Buckingham  to  Lady  Huntingdon, 
who  had  asked  her  to  go  with  her  to  hear  White- 
field.  "  I  thank  your  ladyship  for  the  information 
concerning  the  Methodist  preachers  ;  their  doctrines 
are  most  repulsive,  and  are  strongly  tinctured  with 
impertinence  and  disrespect  towards  their  superiors, 
in  perpetually  endeavouring  to  level  all  ranks 
and  to  do  away  with  all  distinctions.  It  is 
monstrous  to  be  told  that  you  have  a  heart  as 
sinful  as  the  common  wretches  that  crawl  on 
the  earth ;  and  I  cannot  but  wonder  that  your 
ladyship  should  relish  any  sentiments  so  much  at 
variance  with  high  rank  and  breeding." 

As  for  the  almost  universal  indifference  or 
opposition  to  Foreign  Missions,  the  Bishop  of  St. 
David's,  who  questioned  the  right  of  one  people 
to  send  their  religion  to  any  other,  may  be  taken 
to  represent  the  feeling  of  the  Establishment  in 
England;  while  the  reception  which  William 
Carey   got    from    his    colleagues   in   the   Baptist 

195 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

ministry  may  be  taken  as  indicative  of  the 
attitude  of  the  Nonconformists.  Tradition  has  it 
that  when  once  he  was  urging  his  fellow-Christians 
to  discuss  the  matter  of  Missions  to  the  heathen, 
he  was  met  with  the  response :  "  Young  man,  sit 
down.  When  God  wishes  to  convert  the  heathen, 
He  will  do  it  without  your  help  or  mine  "  ;  which 
was,  of  course,  just  what  God  was  not  prepared 
to  do.  God  alone  can  save  the  world,  but  God 
does  not  save  the  world  alone. 

As  it  has  been  with  all  truly  spiritual  move- 
ments, the  Evangelical  Revival  began  quietly  and 
without  observation  of  men.  There  had  been 
preparation  both  positive  and  negative,  and  above 
all  there  had  been  prayer.  It  is  true  that  some 
of  those  who  prayed  hardly  knew  what  they  were 
praying  for,  and  did  not  recognise  the  answer 
when  it  came,  but  that  has  always  been  the  case. 
But  again  and  again  during  these  dreary  years  in 
that  waste  century  of  rationalism  and  indijQference 
we  come  across  appeals  for  union  in  prayer,  and 
better  still,  response  to  the  appeals. 

In  the  year  1723,  a  Presbyterian  minister  in 
Paisley,  for  instance,  published  a  History  of  the 
Propagation  of  Christianity  and  the  Overthrow 
of  Paganism,  in  which  he  powerfully  urged  prayer 
as  the  first  of  nine  means  which  he  enumerated 
for  the  conversion  of  the  heathen.     We  read  that 

196 


The  Evangelical  Revival 

from  1744  to  1746  prayer  that  God's  Kingdom 
might  come  was  offered  by  many  all  over  Great 
Britain,  every  Saturday  evening  and  Sabbath 
morning ;  and  that  those  who  joined  in  the  circle 
of  prayer  were  so  much  encouraged  that  in  August, 
1746,  they  sent  a  memorial  to  Boston  inviting  the 
Christians  of  North  America  to  join  with  them  in 
it  for  the  next  seven  years. 

Then  again,  in  1784,  we  find  the  Baptist  ministers 
of  Northamptonshire  agreeing  to  wrestle  with  God 
for  the  effusion  of  His  Holy  Spirit,  that  there 
might  be  a  revival  of  the  churches  and  the  general 
cause  of  the  Redeemer.  They  unanimously  agreed 
to  exhort  all  the  congregations  to  engage  heartily 
and  perseveringly  in  prayer  to  God  on  the  first 
Monday  of  each  month,  and  at  the  same  hour. 
They  called  on  them  specially  to  pray  for  the 
spread  of  the  Gospel  to  the  distant  parts  of  the 
habitable  globe,  and  to  do  what  they  could  to  get 
other  societies  and  denominations  to  join  with 
them  in  their  praying.  That  they  were  not 
always  loyal  to  the  logic  of  their  intercessions, 
and  often  failed  to  see  what  was  involved  in  such 
prayers,  is  not  to  be  wondered  at.  In  any  case, 
their  lack  of  insight  and  response  has  unhappily 
been  far  from  unique  in  the  history  of  the  Church 
in  prayer,  and  they  had  not  yet  realised  how 
serious  a  thing  it  is  to  wait  on  God  in  such  a 

197 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

fashion,  or  to  how  much  they  were  thereby  com- 
mitting themselves. 

In  addition  to  prayer  in  concert  and  alone  with 
God,  it  would  appear  that,  also  without  observation 
of  men,  there  had  been  quite  an  unwonted  circula- 
tion of  writings  about  the  Holy  Spirit  and  His  work. 
Such  a  notable  book,  for  instance,  as  Marshall's 
Gospel  Mystery  of  Sanctification,  which  has  been 
described  as  "Keswick  doctrine  for  hard  heads," 
was  among  the  books  which  were  called  for  and 
read  widely,  with  the  most  blessed  results.  But 
after  we  have  done  our  best  to  trace  the  revival 
back  to  its  sources,  all  we  can  say  with  certainty 
is  that  the  Breath  of  God  began  to  breathe,  and 
that  ere  long  there  was  a  great  army  of  living 
souls  where  before  there  had  been  nothing  more 
than  the  grim  disjecta  membra  of  the  battlefield, 
a  weird  valley  of  dry  bones,  bones  very  many  and 
very  dry.  To  seek  to  discover  whether  the 
revival  or  the  Missionary  outbreak  came  first 
would  be  a  vain  task  which  has  not  even  an 
academic  interest.  To  ask  this  question  is  like 
asking  whether  the  egg  or  the  hen  is  first ;  for  in 
a  very  real  sense  these  movements  were  not  two, 
but  only  one. 

All  the  same,  there  can  be  but  little  doubt 
that  it  was  the  prompt  obedience  to  the  Divine 
command  shown  in  the  new  Missionary  enterprise 

198 


The  Evangelical  Revival 

that  did  most  to  deepen  the  revival  when  it  had 
come,  and  to  make  it  permanent.  If  it  be  claimed, 
as  it  well  may,  that  it  was  the  revival  in  turn 
which  made  such  obedience  possible  at  all,  that 
just  means  that  once  more  we  are  in  presence  of 
one  of  those  blessed  circles  of  grace  which,  equally 
with  vicious  circles  of  unbelief,  are  so  often  to  be 
met  with  in  the  records  of  the  Church. 

In  his  Short  History  of  the  English  People, 
Mr.  Green  says  that  it  was  not  till  the  Wesleyan 
movement  had  done  its  work  that  the  philanthropic 
movement  began  ;  and  probably  we  are  on  lines  at 
once  safe  and  scientific  when  we  treat  the  Methodist 
movement,  which,  with  all  its  collateral  outgoings, 
was  one  of  the  few  glories  of  an  inglorious 
age,  as  the  beginning  of  the  still  greater  revival 
which  was  to  follow  and  make  all  things  new. 
It  prepared  the  soil  in  which  there  grew  up 
the  choice  plants  of  Mission  work  at  home  and 
abroad,  of  world-wide  philanthropy  and  Gospel 
effort  in  an  outburst  which  has  only  once  been 
equalled  in  the  history  of  the  race.  For  then,  as 
always,  when  it  is  not  perverted,  the  true  love  of 
God  went  hand  in  hand  with  the  true  love  of 
men ;  for  we  only  know  that  we  love  God  Whom 
we  have  not  seen  when  we  love  our  brethren 
whom  we  have  seen. 

To   quote   Mr.   Green  again  :    *'  The  passionate 
199 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

impulse  of  human  sympathy  with  the  wronged 
and  afflicted  raised  hospitals,  endowed  charities, 
built  churches,  sent  Missionaries  to  the  heathen, 
supported  Burke  in  his  plea  for  the  Hindu,  and 
Clarkson  and  Wilberforce  in  their  crusade  against 
the  iniquities  of  the  slave  trade."  And  thus  it 
was  that  when  men  were  obedient  to  the  will  of 
God,  the  clouds  broke  and  showers  fell  where  there 
had  only  been  drops  before.  They  who  do  the 
will  of  God  shall  know  of  the  doctrine ;  and  they 
who  hear  the  cry  of  the  perishing  abroad  hear 
the  voice  of  the  self-revealing  Jehovah  at  home. 
The  state  of  affairs  in  the  various  English 
churches  on  the  eve  of  the  Evangelical  Revival 
was  somewhat  as  follows.  When  John  Wesley 
died,  in  1791,  the  Methodists  had  294  preachers, 
and  nearly  72,000  members  in  the  United  King- 
dom ;  in  addition  to  some  50,000  more  in  other 
lands,  who  had  been  gathered  in  in  loyalty  to 
Wesley's  claim  that  the  world  was  his  parish.  In 
the  English  Establishment  there  had  also  been  a 
quickening;  and  an  Evangelical  party  had  been 
formed,  well-known  men  like  Romaine,  Venn,  John 
Newton,  Thomas  Scott,  and  William  Wilberforce 
being  among  its  leaders.  Charles  Wesley  remained 
in  communion  with  the  Church  of  England  to  the 
last ;  and  by  the  end  of  the  century  these  Evan- 
gelicals were  a  numerous  and  compact  body,  not 

200 


The  Evangelical  Revival 

without  influence.  The  older  English  Noncon- 
formists, too,  had  felt  the  breath  of  revival. 
Earlier  in  the  century  they  had  had  Evangelical 
leaders  like  Watts  and  Doddridge ;  while  later 
there  were  leaders  like  Andrew  Fuller  and  Eobert 
Hall. 

In  Home  Mission  work  and  philanthropy  there 
were  many  signs  of  an  unwonted  stir,  as  if 
already  the  river  had  been  caught  in  the  swirl 
of  the  Niagara  which  was  now  so  near.  In  1781 
Robert  Raikes  began  the  great  work  of  Sabbath- 
schools.  At  the  World  Conference  held  in  Rome, 
in  1907,  it  was  reported  that  there  were  then 
nearly  250,000  Sabbath  -  schools  throughout  the 
world,  with  25,500,000  teachers  and  scholars. 
In  1773,  John  Howard  began  his  epoch-making 
work  of  prison  reform ;  and  although  he  died  at 
his  post  far  away  on  the  shores  of  the  Black  Sea, 
only  seventeen  years  later,  while  attending  a  girl 
sick  of  the  jail  fever,  the  most  beneficent  results 
still  flow  from  what  he  did  so  nobly.  Later  on 
his  work  was  taken  up  by  Elizabeth  Gurney  Fry 
and  a  devoted  band  of  women  and  men,  an  unusual 
proportion  of  whom  were  Quakers,  a  people  whose 
record  in  connection  with  such  philanthropy  is  so 
remarkable. 

During  this  spring-time,  too,  the  work  of  re- 
forming   the    criminal    law   was    begun    by    Sir 

20I 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

Samuel  Romilly  and  carried  on  by  Sir  James 
Mackintosh.  Even  war,  that  monstrous  evil,  felt 
the  healing  touch  of  the  Son  of  Man ;  for  in 
1795  the  work  of  the  Geneva  Convention  was 
anticipated  in  part  by  the  establishment  of  an 
ambulance  by  a  Frenchman. 

As  for  slavery,  that  sum  of  all  villainies  and 
all  wrongs,  reform  came  with  a  glorious  rush, 
which  culminated,  in  1833,  in  what  John  Stuart 
Mill  declared  was  the  most  righteous  act  ever 
done  by  a  nation — when  Great  Britain  paid 
£20,000,000  for  the  redemption  of  her  slaves  in 
the  West  Indies.  Good  men  had  been  denounc- 
ing the  vile  system  since  the  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth  century ;  but  nothing  is  more  remark- 
able in  connection  with  moral  movements  than 
their  slow  growth  up  to  a  certain  point,  unless  it 
be  the  progress  which  comes  with  a  rush  when 
nations  are  born  in  a  day.  The  blindness  of 
good  people  to  clear  moral  issues,  before  the  time 
comes  when  the  day  breaks  and  the  shadows  flee 
away,  is  very  puzzling.  In  1747,  for  example, 
no  less  a  man  than  George  Whitefield  expended 
£300,  which  the  people  of  Charleston  had  given 
him,  in  buying  land  and  negroes ;  and  by  his 
will  he  bequeathed  not  only  his  orphan  homes  but 
his  negro  slaves  to  the  Countess  of  Huntingdon, 
for  the  same  purposes  as  he  himself  held  them. 

202 


The  Evangelical  Revival 

The  first  concerted  action  for  the  abolition  of 
the  slave  trade — the  abolition  of  slavery  itself 
was  not  yet  thought  of — was  made  by  the 
Quakers,  who  in  1761  agreed  to  exclude  from 
their  Society  all  who  took  part  in  it.  In  the  year 
1772,  through  the  eftbrts  of  Granville  Sharp,  a 
decision  was  obtained  from  Lord  Mansfield  that 
no  slave  could  be  held  in  England,  or  carried  out 
of  it.  And  then,  at  last,  the  beginning  of  the 
end  came,  when  the  iniquitous  traffic  was  pro- 
hibited by  Denmark  in  1802,  by  Great  Britain 
in  1807,  and  by  the  United  States  in  1808. 
Slavery  itself,  however,  was  not  abolished  in  the 
British  Empire  till  1833  ;  and  it  only  came  to  an 
end  in  the  United  States  of  America  some  forty- 
five  years  ago,  after  a  bloody  war.  But  the 
Evangelical  Revival  sealed  its  fate,  even  as  the 
preaching  of  the  Gospel  and  the  Sacrament  of  the 
Lord's  Supper  doomed  it  throughout  the  Empire  of 
Rome  in  the  first  centuries  of  our  era. 

In  the  history  of  human  progress,  and  the 
contribution  of  the  Gospel  thereto,  the  Evangelical 
Revival  ranks  with  the  early  Christian  centuries 
and  with  the  Reformation  era ;  and  just  as  the 
Reformation  came  when  the  New  World  was  being 
opened  up,  and  when  the  Renaissance  in  letters, 
the  invention  of  the  printing  press,  and  the 
discovery    of    the    new   continent    of    the    West 

20.^ 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

were  uniting  to  make  everything  new ;  so  the 
Evangelical  Revival  came  amid  the  upheavals  of 
the  French  Revolution  which  remade  Europe, 
and  when  the  nations  were  stirred  to  the  depths 
by  the  great  social  and  industrial  changes  conse- 
quent on  the  invention  of  the  steam-engine,  even 
yet  the  most  wonderful  instrument  which  human 
industry  has  had  put  at  its  command. 

To  bring  out  the  inwardness  of  this  period  of 
unexampled  expansion  in  things  material  and 
spiritual  alike,  these  dates  regarding  trade  may 
be  added  to  those  already  given  about  religion  : 
Adam  Smith  published  the  Wealth  of  Nations 
in  1774  ;  the  spinning  machine  was  invented  in 
1768;  the  spinning  jenny  in  1764;  and  the 
spinning  mule  in  1776,  Even  as  the  Reformation 
consecrated  and  claimed  the  printing  press,  the 
Evangelical  Revival  did  much  to  consecrate  the 
new  mechanical  appliances  which  had  just  been 
put  at  the  service  of  man.  It  also  did  something 
to  mitigate  the  misery  which  was  one  result  of 
the  long  wars  and  the  vast  industrial  changes. 
To  some  extent  it  was  more  successful  than  the 
Reformation  era  in  facing  its  social  problems. 
For  the  picture  of  the  time  when  this  revival 
came  is  far  from  complete,  unless  it  be  realised 
that  it  found  enormous  social  distress  prevail- 
ing ;   that  sheer  hunger  was  everywhere  common 

204 


The  Evangelical  Revival 

among  the  poor ;  and  that  the  public  life  of  the 
community  was  very  corrupt.  It  was  into  this 
maelstrom  of  striving,  sinning,  suffering  men  and 
women  that  the  healing  salt  of  genuine  religious 
quickening  was  thrown  ;  and  since  then,  with  many 
an  ebb  and  flow,  things  have  never  quite  lost  the 
regenerating  impulse  which  they  then  received. 

Now  that  we  have  seen  something  of  the  en- 
vironment of  this  new  era  of  the  Spirit,  we 
may  look  more  definitely  at  what  was  being  done 
in  the  realm  of  Foreign  Mission  work  ;  and  it  soon 
becomes  clear  that  the  river  of  God  was  running 
there,  not  only  deep  and  broad,  but  swift  as  well. 
As  we  saw,  it  was  in  May,  1792,  that  the 
Baptist  Missionary  Society  was  formed  by  the 
men  whom  William  Carey  had  been  teaching  to 
expect  great  things  from  God,  and  to  attempt 
great  things  for  God.  But  even  before  that 
the  Basel  Society  for  Spreading  Christian  Truth, 
out  of  which  emerged  the  Basel  Bible  Society  and 
the  Basel  Missionary  Society,  had  been  founded 
in  1780.  Then  in  1795,  only  three  years  after 
the  Baptists  had  shown  the  way,  the  London 
Missionary  Society  was  formed  by  a  union  of 
Independents,  Presbyterians,  Methodists,  and 
Episcopalians.  Their  only  strife  was  to  be  this — 
"  not  to  promote  the  interests  of  a  special  section, 
since    Christ    is    not    divided ;   but   with    united 

205 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

earnestness  to  make  known  afar  the  glory  of  His 
Person,  the  perfection  of  His  Work,  the  wonders 
of  His  Grace,  and  the  overflowing  blessings  of 
His  Redemption." 

It  has  been  truly  said  that  the  Church  realises 
her  unity  in  her  sacred  songs ;  but  it  is  also  true 
that  she  likewise  realises  it  in  her  efi"orts  to  bring 
the  light  to  those  who  are  sitting  in  darkness 
and  the  shadow  of  death.  Although  the  shadow 
of  separation  still  lies  on  her,  and  hinders  her 
greatly,  that  union  for  Foreign  Mission  work  more 
than  a  century  ago  was  a  sure  prophecy,  not  only 
of  the  brighter  day  which  is  to  come,  but  also  of 
the  direction  from  which  it  is  most  likely  to 
come.  Already,  in  India  and  elsewhere,  churches 
which  are  still  separate  at  home  have  come 
together  at  the  front,  where  they  are  face  to  face 
with  the  foe,  and  have  found  out  that  no  excuse 
is  ever  needed  for  union,  but  only  for  separation. 
That  prophecy,  too,  was  none  the  less  real  that  as 
the  other  churches  have  gradually  formed  their 
own  special  organisations,  the  London  Missionary 
Society  has  necessarily  become  practically  the 
Society  of  the  Independents  or  Congregationalists 
alone. 

In  1799  another  big  step  was  taken,  when 
sixteen  ministers  of  the  Church  of  England, 
encouraged     by     Wilberforce,     the     great     anti- 

206 


The  Evangelical  Revival 

slavery  champion,  and  others  like-minded, 
founded  the  organisation  which,  in  1812,  became 
the  Church  Missionary  Society  for  Africa  and  the 
East,  and  which  has  had  such  a  splendid  career 
ever  since.  Then,  in  1808,  the  London  Society 
for  Promoting  Christianity  among  the  Jews  was 
formed;  while,  in  1813,  the  Wesleyan  Missionary 
Society  was  added  to  the  number  of  active 
agencies.  Nor  were  the  Presbyterians  far  behind, 
if  at  all,  in  spite  of  the  notorious  finding  of  the 
Scottish  General  Assembly,  in  1796.  In  that 
very  year  the  Scottish  and  Glasgow  Missionary 
Societies  were  founded,  and  went  on  their  way 
rejoicing ;  until  they  were  merged  later  on  in 
the  organisations  of  the  churches,  when  these 
laggards  at  last  overtook  the  more  daring  of 
their  members. 

Already,  too,  there  were  two  auxiliary  Societies 
in  existence  which  were  destined  to  play  a  very 
important  part  in  winning  the  world  for  Christ, 
and  to  be  the  most  valued  allies  and  handmaidens 
of  every  Evangelical  Mission.  These  were  the 
Religious  Tract  Society,  founded  in  1799,  and 
the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  which 
began  its  beneficent  career  in  1804.  There  are 
now  more  than  eighty  Bible  Societies  at  work  in 
the  homelands  and  among  the  heathen ;  and  in 
the   year    1909,    the    British    and   Foreign   Bible 

207 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

Society  alone  circulated  nearly  6,000,000  copies 
of  the  Bible,  in  whole  or  in  part,  in  409  lan- 
guages ;  while  Dr.  Dennis  computes  that  when 
the  twentieth  century  began  no  fewer  than  436  of 
the  peoples  and  tribes  of  mankind  had  the  Word 
of  the  Living  God  provided  for  them  in  their 
mother  tongue. 

It  is  not  easy  to  realise  how  much  work  of  the 
noblest  sort  all  this  has  involved  ;  nor  is  there  any 
kind  of  service  in  the  foreign  field  which  deserves 
our  admiration  more  than  the  self-effacement  of 
those  Missionaries  who  spend  years  in  preparing 
grammars,  dictionaries  and  translations,  when 
their  whole  soul  is  on  fire  for  other  forms  of 
work  which  seem  more  immediate  and  active. 
But  the  work  which  is  done  in  this  way  multi- 
plies indefinitely  the  influence  of  every  other 
worker  who  goes  out  with  the  Bible  in  his  hand, 
and  adds  years  to  the  life  of  usefulness  of  those 
who  enter  into  the  labours  of  the  grammar  and 
dictionary  maker. 

There  are  no  truer  Missionary  Societies  than 
the  Bible  Societies,  and  the  societies  for  providing 
literature  in  the  vernacular ;  and  all  the  friends 
of  the  Gospel  rejoice  in  their  wonderful  activity 
and  their  perennial  youth.  Nor  is  it  adequately 
known  or  understood  how  much  the  Church  and 
the  Foreign  Mission  cause  owe  to  the  consecration 

2o8 


The  Evangelical  Revival 

of  scholars  of  the  first  rank  who  have  given  their 
years  to  this  work  of  translation. 

Dr.  Wright,  who  spoke  with  such  authority 
on  the  subject,  has  well  said  :  "  Let  none  despise 
the  uneducated  Missionaries  who  go  forth  with 
hearts  full  of  love  to  tell  the  simple  story  of 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  to  the  common  people  who 
hear  them  gladly.  But  there  is  cause  for  joy  in 
the  Church  of  Christ  when  our  polished  scholars 
go  forth  to  the  heathen.  If  on  arriving  they  find 
a  poor  translation,  then,  like  Bishop  Steere  of  the 
Universities'  Mission,  they  make  a  better.  If 
there  is  no  translation,  like  Mr.  Batchelor  of  the 
Church  Missionary  Society  among  the  Ainu,  they 
make  one.  If  the  translation  is  very  good,  but 
ought  to  be  better,  like  Mr.  Cousins  of  the 
London  Missionary  Society  and  his  colleagues  in 
Madagascar,  they  revise  and  perfect  it.  Where 
there  is  no  written  language,  like  the  Presbyterian 
Missionaries  in  the  New  Hebrides,  or  Mr.  Calvert 
of  Fiji,  they  catch  the  sounds  from  the  lips  of 
the  people,  and  fix  the  winged  words  in  permanent 
forms.  They  pluck  the  flowerets  of  savage  speech 
and  weave  them  into  chaplets  for  the  King  of 
kings.  All  the  scholarly  Missionaries  of  the 
diff"erent  Missions  become  philologists  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  Bible  Society,  in  the  service  of  G-od, 
and  hence  the  ratio  of  progress  in  translation 
N.E.— 14  209 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

and  revision."  The  various  Bible  Societies  are 
now  putting  as  many  copies  of  the  Scriptures  into 
circulation  every  year  as  were  in  all  the  world 
when  the  Evansrelical  Revival  be2:an. 

Nor  must  it  be  overlooked  that  while  this 
Evangelical  Revival  showed  its  power  mainly 
among  the  English-speaking  peoples,  it  brought 
blessing  also  to  the  continent  of  Europe,  although 
it  came  there  later  and  with  diminished  force.  In 
1836,  Fliedner  founded  the  Institute  of  Deaconesses 
at  Kaiserswerth,  which  has  become  the  pride  of  the 
Evangelicals  in  the  Fatherland ;  and  the  Dresden 
Society  has  also  done  much  to  guide  and  develop 
the  work  of  the  Lutheran  churches  among  the 
heathen.  The  Swedish  Mission  to  the  Lapps,  one 
of  the  solitary  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Reformation 
period,  was  resumed  in  1825.  Hahn  of  Livonia 
is  the  apostle  of  the  Hereros.  GutzlafF  of  Pomer- 
ania  occupies  a  high  place  among  the  j5rst  Mission- 
aries to  China.  The  Rhenish  Mission  which  went 
to  Borneo  in  1835  did  good  work  among  the 
heathen  Dyaks.  Dutch  Missionaries,  too,  have 
long  been  busy  in  Java. 

As  for  the  doings  of  the  American  churches 
and  Mission  Societies,  they  would  require  chapters 
for  themselves.  Their  operations  in  the  Turkish 
Empire,  begun  in  1881,  are  one  instance  out  of 
many   of  work   done   which,    because  of  its    ex- 

2IO 


The  Evangelical  Revival 

ceeding  value,  will  never  be  forgotten  by  those 
who  admire  consecrated  efficiency.  The  wondrous 
and  almost  bloodless  revolution  which  has  recently 
transformed  the  whole  outlook  in  the  Near  East 
is  but  one  of  the  many  striking  testimonies  to 
the  immense  influence  for  good  of  their  Robert 
College  with  all  its  related  agencies.  Even  when 
nations  are  born  in  a  day,  the  preparatory  work 
is  often  long  and  arduous,  as  it  was  in  this  case ; 
and  Turkey  is  a  most  unexpected  encouragement 
to  all  faithful  workers,  and  not  least  to  those 
who  have  to  face  the  unique  discouragements 
incident  to  the  conflict  in  Mohammedan  countries. 
How  quickly  everything  changes  when  the  sun 
comes  out  1 

Such,  then,  are  some  of  the  main  features  of  the 
unexampled  Missionary  revival  with  which  the 
eighteenth  century  ended  and  the  nineteenth 
century  began.  It  is  not  easy  for  us  to  realise 
nowadays  that  it  is  hardly  a  century  since  Dr. 
Chalmers,  the  great  Evangelical  leader  of  the 
Scots,  published  those  memorable  sermons  of  his 
in  which  he  pleaded  for  Missionary  enterprise  in 
Scotland ;  that  it  is  little  more  than  a  hundred 
years  since  the  Church  Missionary  Society  sent  forth 
its  first  representative  to  West  Africa,  its  earliest 
agents  being  Germans  ;  or  that  the  first  Missionary 
in  modern  times  to  China,  the  ever-famous  Robert 

21  I 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

Morrison,  only  reached  Canton  in  September  1807, 
to  begin  that  assault  on  the  mighty  Empire  which 
is  now  so  full  of  promise.  Even  then  he  only 
began  the  study  of  the  language  with  a  view  to 
attempting  the  translation  of  the  Scriptures  into 
Chinese. 

Yet  these  are  the  facts  of  the  situation ;  and 
when  we  think  of  what  was  the  state  of  affairs 
then,  and  of  what  has  since  been  accomplished, 
in  spite  of  all  the  disappointments  and  drawbacks, 
we  can  only  cry  out  in  gratitude  and  wonder. 
What  hath  God  wrought !  In  their  impatience 
and  short-sightedness  men  sometimes  express 
surprise  that  so  little  progress  has  been  made 
and  so  little  fruit  gathered  in,  when  there  are 
so  many  thousands  of  devoted  workers  busy  in 
every  clime.  Some  even  join  in  these  expressions 
of  surprise  who  themselves  are  sharing  in  the 
'*  arrested  progress "  which  is  bewildering  and 
saddening  so  many  in  the  homelands.  But  when 
we  remember  the  unbroken  darkness  which  reigned 
until  our  own  time  in  many  of  the  heathen  lands, 
and  all  the  imperfections  of  the  work  even  where 
it  has  been  done  best — its  fragmentariness  and 
lack  of  continuity ;  its  divisions  even  at  the 
front  and  on  the  battlefield  in  presence  of  the 
King's  foes ;  and  all  the  hindrances  which  have 
had  to  be  overcome,  and  are  not  wholly  overcome 

212 


The  Evangelical  Revival 

yet ;  the  hostility  of  the  carnal  heart  to  the 
evangelical  doctrines  ;  and  the  unbelief  and  wicked- 
ness of  some  who  represent  Christendom  in  govern- 
ment and  trade — our  wonder  might  rather  be  that 
so  much  has  been  accomplished. 

There  are  nations  which  are  now  sending  out 
Missionaries  themselves  who  far  less  than  a  century 
ago  had  never  heard  of  the  Saviour  Christ.  Multi- 
tudes are  now  faithful  believers  who  were  born 
in  unbroken  heathenism,  many  who  themselves 
were  once  revilers  and  persecutors.  And  there 
are  not  a  few  earnest  waiters  on  God  who  live 
and  labour  in  the  belief  that,  even  if  they 
themselves  are  not  spared  to  see  the  Gospel 
preached  to  all  mankind,  and  the  Kingdom  come, 
some  now  alive  will  yet  share  in  the  glory  of 
the  crowning  day.  Some,  too,  of  those  who 
are  most  patient  are  also  among  the  eager ;  and 
even  while  they  remember  that  it  took  three 
centuries  to  win  the  Empire,  and  eleven  centuries 
to  win  the  Barbarians  throughout  Europe,  and 
that  neither  of  these  victories  was  quite  com- 
plete at  that,  they  cannot  but  recall  also  that  the 
Church  has  only  too  often  limited  the  Holy  One  of 
Israel,  and  that  in  this  dispensation  of  the  Spirit 
believers  in  the  Risen  Christ  ought  to  see  greater 
things  than  these. 

Christian  optimism  about  Missions  does  not 
213 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

mean  forgetting  the  difficulties  which  have  to  be 
faced,  any  more  than  it  means  blindness  to  the 
fact  that,  as  there  have  been  failures  in  the 
past,  there  may  be  failures  in  the  future ;  but  it 
does  mean  remembering  that  the  Lord  is  not  slack 
concerning  His  promise,  and  that  His  heart  yearns 
over  all  the  sinning  and  suffering,  that  they  may 
find  their  all  in  Him.  There  may  be  too  much 
impatience  of  a  sort,  but  there  may  also  be  too 
much  patience  of  a  sort ;  the  patience  of  those 
who  are  altogether  lacking  in  the  zeal  of  God's 
house,  and  who  cry  to  the  Lord  for  help  when 
He  is  crying  to  them  to  go  forward ;  and  who 
profess  to  be  waiting  for  God,  when  all  the  while 
He  is  waiting  for  them. 

There  are  some  Christian  workers  who  are  very 
much  afraid  of  excitement.  But  there  was  excite- 
ment when  Jesus  was  here  on  the  earth,  and  men 
saw  things  they  had  never  seen  before.  There 
was  excitement  in  the  time  of  the  Reformation 
Revival,  and  in  the  time  of  the  Evangelical  Revival, 
when  God  was  renewing  the  face  of  the  earth ; 
and  there  will  be  excitement  again  when  the  whole 
Church  of  Christ  rises  up  to  serve  in  obedience  to 
the  command  to  make  disciples  of  all  nations,  and 
realises  that  every  such  command  is  a  promise  of 
power  to  those  who  are  willing  to  obey. 

Just  because  it  was  such  a  deep  spiritual  move- 
214 


The  Evangelical  Revival 

ment,  it  is  not  possible  to  detail  the  history  of 
the  Evangelical  Revival,  or  to  trace  all  its  blessed 
fruits.  We  are  not  able  to  say,  "  Lo,  God  is  here," 
or  "  Lo,  God  is  there,"  as  the  light  was  diffused 
and  one  after  another  came  under  the  mighty 
power  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  But  there  are  two  fine 
instances  of  how  the  fire  spread  which  may  be 
narrated  as  serving  to  show  what  was  going  on 
in  numberless  lives.  They  are  both  taken  from 
the  history  of  the  movement  in  Scotland,  but 
even  so  they  bring  us  into  touch  with  two  of  the 
outstanding  leaders  in  the  English  movement  as 
well.  The  best  entente  cordiale  is  always  that 
which  gathers  round  the  spread  of  the  Gospel, 
and  the  most  enduring  unity  is  that  which  is 
evidenced  there. 

In  all  the  history  of  Scotland  since  the  days 
of  John  Knox  and  Alexander  Henderson,  there 
has  been  no  figure  more  massive,  nor  any 
character  more  fruitful,  than  that  of  Thomas 
Chalmers,  whose  reputation  as  a  preacher  and 
philosopher,  as  a  theologian  and  social  economist, 
as  a  churchman  and  a  statesman,  spread  far  beyond 
the  narrow  confines  of  Caledonia ;  and  the  story 
of  his  conversion  tells  how  the  tide  turned,  not 
only  in  his  life  but  in  the  life  of  the  nation  as 
well.  The  history  of  any  movement  is  but  the 
history  of  the  individual  soul  writ  large.     William 

215 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

Wallace  made  Scotland  a  nation.  John  Knox  made 
her  reformed  and  free.  Thomas  Chalmers  brought 
her  into  the  full  stream  of  the  river  of  blessing 
which  flowed  from  the  Evangelical  Revival,  and 
had  worked  such  wonders  in  the  South,  turning 
the  wilderness  into  the  garden  of  the  Lord. 

On  the  other  hand,  one  of  the  most  striking  and 
attractive  figures  among  the  Evangelical  leaders 
in  England  in  that  era  of  grace  was  William 
Wilberforce.  After  her  first  conversation  with 
him,  Madame  de  Stael  said  :  "  I  have  always  heard 
that  Mr.  Wilberforce  was  the  most  religious  man 
in  England ;  but  I  did  not  know  that  he  was 
also  the  wittiest."  He  was  born  in  the  year 
1759  ;  and  his  circumstances  and  gifts  were  such 
that  soon  after  he  came  of  age  he  was  elected 
to  Parliament ;  he  retired  from  the  House  of 
Commons  in  old  age  after  forty-five  years  of 
active  service.  He  was  rich,  witty,  and  fond  of 
society ;  but  when  he  was  only  twenty-six  years 
of  age,  and  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  all  the  gaieties 
of  the  time,  he  was  converted  to  God.  This 
change  took  place  partly  through  his  study  of 
Doddridge's  Rise  and  Progress  of  Religion  in  the 
Soul,  but  mainly  through  his  study  of  the  New 
Testament  in  the  original  Greek. 

From  that  time  onward  his  life  had  a  new  bent, 
and  all  his  energies,  gifts,  and  opportunities  were 

216 


The  Evangelical  Revival 

diverted  into  a  new  cliannel.  In  every  sphere  of 
public  and  private  life  lie  became  the  champion  and 
the  friend  of  the  growing  Evangelical  party,  and 
at  the  same  time  did  much  to  guide  the  movement 
along  sane  and  helpful  lines.  For  one  thing,  he 
saved  it  from  being  in  any  sense  a  clerical  move- 
ment ;  and  it  was  due  to  him  more  than  to  any 
other  that  Great  Britain  abolished  the  slave  trade 
in  the  year  1807.  Not  only  so  ;  but  just  three  days 
before  his  death,  in  1833,  he  had  the  joy  of  knowing 
that  slavery  itself  had  followed  the  slave  trade, 
and  had  been  abolished  all  through  the  wide 
domains  of  the  British  Empire.  Like  Simeon, 
he  could  say :  "  Lord,  now  lettest  Thou  Thy 
servant  depart  in  peace." 

His  life-work  was  such  a  rounded  whole  as  few 
lives  are  permitted  to  be.  In  the  year  1797  he 
published  an  epoch-making  volume  entitled,  A 
Practical  View  of  the  Prevailing  System  of 
Professed  Christians  in  the  Higher  and  Middle 
Classes  in  this  Country  Contrasted  with  Peal 
Christianity.  Five  editions  of  it  were  sold  within 
six  months,  which  meant  vastly  more  then  than 
it  would  mean  now  with  our  enormous  reading 
public.  Nor  is  it  possible  to  overestimate  the 
good  that  book  did  all  over  the  land,  and  especially 
among  the  well-to-do  classes.  It  is  not  possible  to 
go  far  in  the  records  of  the  time  without  meeting 

217 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

it  or  finding  testimony  to  its  unique  and  un- 
paralleled influence. 

And  now  our  Scotsman  and  our  Englishman 
meet.  Among  those  who  read  Wilberforce's  book 
was  Thomas  Chalmers.  In  the  hands  of  the 
Almighty  Spirit  it  proved  to  be  the  torch  which 
was  to  set  his  great  soul  on  fire,  and  through  him 
to  shine  into  so  many  Scottish  homes  and  hearts ; 
and  through  them  into  the  regions  beyond,  with 
the  light  of  the  wondrous  compassion  and  pity  of 
the  saving  grace  of  God.  Chalmers  was  thirty- 
one  years  of  age  at  the  time,  and  had  just  been 
struck  down  by  a  serious  illness  in  the  midst  of  his 
labours,  being  brought  to  the  very  gates  of  death. 
In  the  quiet  hours  of  his  convalescence  he  read 
Wilberforce,  and  passed  from  death  to  life,  and 
from  a  learned  and  respectable  Moderatism  to  a 
living  faith  in  a  living  Lord.  Never  was  the 
great  change  greater  or  more  thoroughgoing. 
All  his  marvellous  gifts  were  now  consecrated  to 
the  service  of  his  Master ;  and  from  that  time 
till  he  fell  on  sleep,  thirty-six  years  later,  Thomas 
Chalmers  spent  himself  for  God,  and  the  whole 
nation  responded  marvellously  to  the  mighty 
appeal. 

Thus  it  was  that  the  Evangelical  Eevival  came 
in  power  to  Scotland,  and  what  had  only  been 
local  and  sporadic  before  became  national  through 

218 


The  Evangelical  Revival 

this  man's  conversion.  Nor  was  it  in  Home 
Mission  work  and  philanthropy  alone  that  Chalmers 
made  his  influence  felt,  after  such  a  fashion  that 
Scotland  still  retains  the  impress  of  his  work. 
That  was  no  longer  the  spirit  of  the  Church  or  of 
such  as  were  being  saved ;  and  of  necessity  he 
turned  his  attention  to  the  needs  of  the  heathen 
and  to  the  appeal  of  the  perishing.  In  two  famous 
sermons  he  directed  the  attention  of  the  nation  to 
this  subject,  first  of  all  in  1812  and  then  in  1814. 
Through  these,  followed  up  as  they  were  by  personal 
contact  later  on,  he  kindled  a  yearning  in  the 
heart  of  Alexander  Duflf  which  ultimately  took  that 
truly  apostolic  Missionary  to  India,  as  the  first 
accredited  agent  of  the  Scottish  Church  in  the 
foreign  field — yea,  be  it  added,  as  the  first  accredited 
agent  of  any  Home  church,  as  a  church.  And 
thus  England  and  Scotland  and  the  Empire,  the 
statesman,  the  theologian,  and  the  Missionary,  were 
bound  together  in  gracious  ties.  Thus  also  were 
the  ties  between  the  work  at  home  and  the  work 
abroad  once  more  made  manifest. 

But  Dr.  Duff's  name  brings  us  to  the  other 
illustrative  example  referred  to  as  to  how  the 
Gospel  light  was  spreading  in  these  wondrous 
formative  days,  from  heart  to  heart  and  from  land 
to  land.  In  the  year  1796  Charles  Simeon,  who 
was  so  splendidly  occupying  the  pulpit  of  Trinity 

219 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

Church,  Cambridge,  and  kindling  there  a  fire  which 
was  never  to  go  out,  and  the  same  who  had 
secured  entrance  into  India  for  the  five  chaplain- 
Missionaries,  made  a  tour  in  Scotland  in  company 
with  James  Haldane  the  evangelist,  who  had  in- 
tended to  be  a  Missionary,  but  who  for  the  greater 
glory  of  God  had  been  kept  at  home  to  serve  in 
Scotland  and  to  carry  the  Evangelical  Revival  to  the 
far  North — as  far,  indeed,  as  the  Shetland  Islands. 
For  as  John  Newton  once  asked :  "  Why  should 
not  the  Orkney  and  Shetland  Islands  deserve  atten- 
tion as  much  as  the  Islands  of  the  South  Seas  ? " 
When  the  travellers  were  at  Dunkeld,  in  the  Perth- 
shire Highlands,  Simeon  had  arranged  to  drive  to 
the  famous  Pass  of  Killiecrankie,  intending  there- 
after to  hurry  back  to  Glasgow. 

But  man  proposes,  and  God  disposes ;  like  the 
Apostle  of  the  Gentiles  in  Galatia,  Simeon  "  felt 
poorly,"  and  had  to  postpone  his  flight.  As  one 
result  of  this,  he  paid  a  visit  to  Moulin,  some  four 
miles  from  the  Pass,  to  see  the  minister  of  the  parish, 
Mr.  Stewart  by  name.  The  outcome  of  this  inter- 
course was  that  Mr.  Stewart  "changed  the  strain 
of  his  preaching,  determining  to  know  nothing 
among  his  people  but  Christ  and  Him  crucified." 
Later  on  he  became  minister  at  Dingwall  in  Ross- 
shire,  and  then  in  the  Canongate  of  Edinburgh ; 
and  in   both  of  these  places,  as   at  Moulin  after 

220 


The  Evangelical  Revival 

his  great  resolve,  he  was  a  living  force  for  the 
salvation  of  the  souls  of  men  and  women  :  and, 
long  after,  Simeon  blessed  God  for  the  happy 
indisposition  which  sent  him  to  Moulin  in  spite 
of  his  plans. 

Before  Mr.  Stewart  brought  his  ministry  in 
Perthshire  to  a  close,  among  those  who  came  under 
the  power  of  the  Gospel  through  his  regenerated 
ministry  were  two  of  his  young  folks,  who  were 
ultimately  to  become  husband  and  wife,  and  to 
whom  as  such  the  future  Missionary  Alexander 
Duff  was  born  on  25th  April,  1806 — a  great  gift  of 
God  to  them  and  the  Church.  Thus  did  the  heal- 
ing waters  of  the  grace  of  God  flow  through  Simeon 
and  Stewart  and  that  Highland  father  and  mother, 
all  the  way  from  Cambridge,  to  the  lad  growing  up 
in  his  far-off"  Perthshire  home,  and  through  him  to 
multitudes  still  farther  off"  in  Bengal  and  Hindustan. 
Truly  the  river  of  God  is  full  of  water.  Nor  would 
we  forget  the  share  Chalmers  and  Wilberforce  had 
in  sending  Duff"  to  India ;  for  when  the  lad  went 
as  a  student  to  St.  Andrews,  he  came  under  the 
spell  of  the  great  preacher,  who  was  now  a  professor 
in  the  University  there,  and  wielding  a  far-reach- 
ing influence  for  the  evangel. 

Nothing  is  more  striking  about  the  Evangelical 
Revival  than  the  fashion  in  which  all  who  shared 
in  it  were  linked  together  in  influences  like  these. 

221 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

For  the  instances  given  are  only  a  few  out  of  many 
proofs  which  this  blessed  time  of  renaissance  and 
reformation  affords  of  the  truth  that  our  world  is 
very  small ;  that  from  the  Christian  view-point  it 
must  be  looked  at  as  one  and  indivisible  ;  and  that 
the  whole  round  earth  is  every  way  bound  by  gold 
chains  about  the  feet  of  God.  While,  for  example, 
Duff  was  still  a  student  at  St.  Andrews,  he  met  Dr. 
Marshman,  who  was  home  from  Serampore,  and  full 
of  the  gracious  work  which  Carey  and  he  were 
doing  there.  Duff  was  also  brought  into  contact 
with  Dr.  Morrison,  the  pioneer  of  Missionaries  to 
China,  who  had  come  home  to  tell  about  the  work 
in  Canton,  and  to  interest  the  churches  in  the 
teeming  millions  of  the  Flowery  Land.  And 
besides  all  this,  in  Duff's  making  as  a  Missionary 
there  was  the  growing  influence  of  Chalmers  him- 
self, of  whom  he  spoke  in  1847  as  "the  leading 
Missionary  spirit  in  Christendom." 

Thus  Cambridge  and  St.  Andrews,  Moulin  and 
Serampore,  Canton  and  Calcutta,  joined  hands 
round  one  consecrated  life  at  the  summons  of 
human  need  and  of  the  great  Divine  provision 
which  has  been  made  for  that  need  in  Christ.  And 
this  was  what  that  glorious  spring-time  which  we 
call  the  Evangelical  Revival  was  doing  all  over 
Christendom  and  fcir  beyond ;  to  let  believers  see 
that  they  were  all  one  in  Christ,  and  to  make  it 

222 


The  Evangelical  Revival 

manifest  that  the  seal  of  their  unity  must  be  the 
deliverance  of  those  who  were  still  sitting  in  dark- 
ness and  in  the  shadow  of  death.  "  Wilt  Thou  not 
revive  us  again,  that  Thy  people  may  rejoice  in 
Thee  ? " 


22 


CHAPTER  VIII 
THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY 


N.E.— 15  225 


"  The  earth  shall  be  full  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord,  as  the 
waters  cover  the  sea." — ISA.  11.  9. 

"  A  candle  loses  nothing  by  having  another  candle  lighted  at  it." 
— Hegel. 

"And  not  by  Eastern  windows  only, 

When  daylight  comes,  comes  in  the  light ; 
In  front  the  sun  climbs  slow,  how  slowly ; 
But  Westward,  look,  the  land  is  bright." 

Clough. 


226 


CHAPTER   Vlll 

THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY 

rpHE  nineteenth  century  was  in  every  respect, 
-*-  moral  and  spiritual,  social  and  political,  the 
greatest  of  all  the  centuries  except  the  first ;  and 
even  the  first  excels  it  only  in  the  one  outstanding 
fact  that  it  saw  Him  come  who  is  the  Desire  of  all 
nations,  and  the  Eternal.  In  the  realm  of  Missions, 
it  has  been  claimed  for  the  nineteenth  century 
that  its  crowning  glory  has  been  that  it  inscribed 
on  its  banner  the  command  of  the  Lord  to  disciple 
all  nations,  and  that  the  thought  of  consecrated 
service  distinctively  characterises  its  conception  of 
the  nature  and  aims  of  the  Church.  Many  volumes 
would  be  required  for  the  record  of  what  was 
achieved  throughout  its  years  for  the  glory  of  God 
and  the  good  of  men,  as  it  went  forward  in  loyalty 
to  this  great  ideal. 

It  must  always  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  rise 
of  modern  science,  and  the  appearance  and  applica- 
tions of  modern  inventions,  made  the  difi'erence 

227 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

between  the  nineteenth  century  and  even  the 
eighteenth  vastly  greater  than  that  between  the 
eighteenth  and  the  third,  or  the  ninth,  or  any  other. 
The  difference  was  not  so  much  in  degree  as  in 
kind.  Modern  science  may  have  been  unfriendly 
to  the  supernatural  in  some  respects,  partly  be- 
cause that  has  been  sadly  misunderstood  ;  but  in 
many  other  respects  it  has  been  the  willing  hand- 
maiden and  ally  of  the  Gospel,  and  has  come  to 
the  help  of  the  Lord  against  the  mighty. 

The  first  steamer  which  spanned  the  Atlantic  was 
the  Savannah,  which  crossed  in  the  year  1819,  and 
took  twenty -five  days  to  do  so.  It  was  not  for  five 
years  after  that  that  a  steamer  went  from  England 
to  India.  The  first  railway  over  which  goods  and 
passengers  were  carried  by  a  locomotive  engine 
was  not  opened  till  1825  ;  and  the  electric  tele- 
graph was  not  made  use  of  in  Britain  until  the 
year  of  the  accession  of  Queen  Victoria  to  the 
throne.  That  meant  that  Constantine,  the  Roman 
general ;  William  of  Orange,  the  deliverer ;  and 
Charles  James  Fox,  the  statesman  and  orator,  all 
travelled  from  the  Continent  to  England  in  very 
much  the  same  fashion  ;  and  that  the  fashion  by 
which  either  Abraham  or  Isaiah  would  have  had 
to  travel  had  they  wished  to  do  so — that  is,  by  the 
aid  of  the  wind  or  of  oars,  and  with  no  other 
mechanical  aids  whatsoever.     It  means,  too,  that 

228 


The  Nineteenth  Century 

men  waited  for  tlie  news  of  Waterloo  very  much 
as  their  predecessors  had  waited  for  news  of 
Marathon  or  Bannockburn.  They  had  all  the  help 
that  horses  and  sails  and  signals  could  render  them  ; 
but  they  knew  nothing  of  the  electric  telegraph 
at  the  latest  of  these  battles  any  more  than  at  the 
first.  As  for  wireless  telegraphy,  with  its  accumu- 
lation of  marvels,  or  dirigible  aeroplanes,  we  our- 
selves have  not  yet  become  accustomed  to  them. 
But  it  is  easy  to  forget  that  so  much  which  is 
commonplace  now,  and  in  everyday  use,  was  as 
unknown  to  John  Wesley  and  George  the  Third 
as  it  was  to  Justin  Martyr  or  Julius  Csesar. 

For  us  the  supreme  significance  of  all  this  is, 
that  all  these  aids  to  intercommunication  among 
the  nations  came  for  the  first  time  when  the  Evan- 
gelical Revival  was  still  moving  men  everywhere 
to  show  that  they  loved  God  Whom  they  had  not 
seen  by  their  love  for  the  brethren  whom  they  had 
seen.  They  were  like  another  gift  of  tongues  for 
the  new  era ;  and  they  came  at  the  very  time 
when  they  could  be  harnessed  to  the  Gospel 
chariot,  and  used  by  those  eager  to  tell  all  the 
world  of  their  Redeemer  and  what  He  had  done  for 
them.  These  changes  made  the  world  one  and  in- 
divisible after  a  new  sort,  and  enabled  Mission  work 
to  be  carried  on  with  a  new  kind  of  efficiency  ;  and 
as  one  result   of  their  operation,  the  nineteenth 

229 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

century  saw  barriers  between  the  nations  every- 
where broken  down  in  the  most  marvellous  way. 
The  nineteenth  century,  like  the  first,  could  say  : 
"  We  never  saw  it  after  this  fashion." 

There  were  also  vast  social  and  political  changes 
which  opened  up  the  hermit  nations  of  the  Far 
East  to  the  influences  of  the  West.  A  century 
ago,  China,  Korea  and  Japan  were  all  either  un- 
known or  altogether  closed  against  the  Gospel. 
Australasia,  too,  with  all  its  vast  promise  and  power 
in  the  Southern  Seas,  was  still  inhabited  by  un- 
known savages ;  while  Africa,  with  the  exception 
of  Egypt  and  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  was  so 
much  a  terra  incognita  that  it  was  believed  to 
be  mainly  desert.  The  nineteenth  century  saw 
the  world  at  one  and  the  same  time  grow  vastly 
larger  and  vastly  smaller  than  it  had  been  before ; 
and  it  is  more  than  remarkable  that,  just  as  the 
revival  in  the  sixteenth  century  came  when  the 
printing  press  was  beginning  its  wondrous  career, 
the  revival  in  the  nineteenth  century  came  when 
the  steam-engine  had  just  become  the  stupendous 
servant  of  man.  Who  can  tell  whether  the  aero- 
plane may  not  be  as  marvellously  allied  with  the 
new  era  into  which  we  are  entering  now,  and  be 
as  graciously  allied  with  another  revival,  another 
world-wide  quickening  from  on  high  ? 

When  the  nineteenth  century  began,  all  Europe 
230 


The  Nineteenth  Century- 
was  shaken  to  its  very  foundations  by  the  Revolu- 
tion in  France,  which  sealed  the  death-warrant  of 
the  old  despotism  and  absolutism  not  only  in 
France  but  everywhere.  The  new  century,  with 
all  its  travail  and  sorrow,  began  with  a  fresh  sense 
of  hope  and  expansion,  and  with  a  new  sense  of 
the  rights  of  men  as  well  as  of  their  duties  and 
responsibilities.  As  it  has  been  well  put,  the  same 
new  enthusiasm  of  humanity  which  gave  birth  to 
the  theories  of  the  "social  contract,"  and  inspired 
the  Marseillaise,  sent  Elizabeth  Fry  to  her  work 
in  the  prisons  and  William  Wilberforce  to  his  life's 
work  for  the  slaves,  just  as  it  sent  Carey  to  India 
and  Moffat  to  South  Africa. 

No  great  remedial  movement,  and  least  of  all 
that  which  issued  in  the  Foreign  Mission  enter- 
prise, can  be  understood  if  it  be  not  looked  at  in 
its  place  in  the  great  world-struggle  for  liberty,  and 
light,  and  God.  The  Lord  our  God  is  One  Lord ; 
and  when  the  Spirit  is  at  work  among  men  as  He 
was  then.  He  ever  impresses  His  seal  of  unity  on 
the  doings  of  those  who  are  obedient  to  His  will. 

"  Careless  seems  the  great  Avenger ;  History's  pages  but  record 
One  death-grapple  in  tlie  darkness  'twixt  old  systems  and  the 

Word; 
Truth  for  ever  on  the  scaffold,  Wrong  for  ever  on  the  Throne — 
Yet  that  scaffold   sways   the  Future,  and,  behind  the  dim  un- 
known, 
Standeth   God  within   the   Shadow,   keeping  watch  above   His 


231 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

The  statisticians  say  that  whereas  in  the  year 
1800  there  was  a  Christian  population  through- 
out the  world  of  only  200,000,000,  there  was  a 
similar  population  of  500,000,000  in  the  year 
1900  ;  and  if  this  be  little  more  than  a  surmise, 
the  fact  remains  that  at  the  beginning  of  the 
twentieth  century,  for  every  square  mile  of  the 
earth's  surface  governed  by  non-Christian  peoples, 
four  miles  were  under  Christian  rule,  or  eighty-two 
per  cent,  of  the  whole.  Yet  in  his  conceit  and 
ignorance  Voltaire  prophesied  that  before  the  nine- 
teenth century  had  begun  Christianity  would  have 
vanished  from  the  earth. 

The  value  of  such  estimates,  and  even  of  such 
facts,  is,  however,  only  comparative  and  relative. 
Even  when  we  endeavour  to  arrive  at  actual  figures 
as  to  the  sum  total  of  the  agents,  resources,  and 
achievements  of  the  various  Missionary  organisa- 
tions, it  is  not  easy  to  get  at  the  facts ;  they 
are  so  complex,  and  are  so  often  compiled  from 
diflferent  standpoints.  Yet  there  are  some  facts 
which  can  be  ascertained  which  carry  the  most 
obvious  lessons  with  them. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century,  for 
example,  there  were  at  most  only  half  a  dozen 
societies  for  work  abroad,  and  these  were  nearly 
all  just  newly  organised ;  whereas  at  the  end  of 
the    century    there    were    at    least    300.      There 

232 


The  Nineteenth  Century 

are  so  many  now,  indeed,  that  it  is  not  easy 
to  keep  an  account  of  them  all.  Dr.  Dennis,  in 
the  elaborate  and  valuable  details  which  he  com- 
piled at  the  close  of  the  century,  says  that  if  we 
include  those  which  aid  the  work  indirectly,  there 
were  then  no  fewer  than  558  organisations  at  work 
in  connection  with  Foreign  Missions.  During  the 
century,  too,  the  amount  spent  annually  by  the 
various  organisations  on  this  work  rose  from  about 
£10,000  to  £4,000,000;  and  in  1909  to  £4,922,615. 
When  the  century  began,  there  were  about  50 
Missionaries  at  work,  all  of  them  men.  When  it 
ended,  there  were  6600  men  and  4000  women  ; 
or,  if  the  wives  of  the  Missionaries  be  included,  as 
most  of  them  ought  to  be,  there  were  some  14,000 
men  and  women  at  work  in  the  foreign  field. 

Of  even  greater  significance,  if  that  be  possible, 
is  the  fact  that  during  the  century  the  number  of 
native  ministers  rose  from  none  to  4000  ;  and  of 
other  native  helpers  from  80  only  to  78,000. 
When  this  wonderful  century  came  to  an  end, 
there  were  1,500,000  native  communicants,  as 
compared  with  7000  when  it  began ;  while  the 
catechumens  had  increased  from  5000  to  4,500,000. 
According  to  Dr.  Dennis,  indeed,  these  figures  are 
too  modest,  inspiring  as  they  are.  He  adds,  too, 
that  when  the  century  ended  some  portion  of  the 
Scriptures  had  been  translated  into  no  fewer  than 

233 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

436  tongues  or  dialects.  But  figures  apart,  it  is 
abundantly  manifest  that  the  progress  during  this 
unique  and  gracious  century  was  altogether  extra- 
ordinary. Some  of  the  incidents  of  the  progress 
make  that  even  more  vivid  and  impressive  than 
any  array  of  statistics  could  do. 

And  here  the  difficulty  is  to  know  where  to 
begin  and  where  to  end,  the  embarrassment  of 
riches  is  so  great.  In  Sierra  Leone,  for  example, 
where  Mission  work  did  not  begin  until  the  year 
of  Waterloo,  there  is  now  a  self-supporting,  self- 
governing,  self-extending  church,  and  seven  out 
of  every  eight  of  the  inhabitants  are  professing 
Christians.  Bishop  Tucker  baptized  his  first  con- 
vert in  Toro,  in  Central  Africa,  as  recently  as 
1896,  and  less  than  twelve  years  later  there  were 
nearly  3000  professing  Christians  in  the  region, 
and  nearly  half  of  that  number  had  become  com- 
municants. In  Uganda,  in  the  five  years  preced- 
ing 1909  as  many  as  35,000  people  were  baptized, 
the  greater  number  of  them  being  adult  converts 
from  heathenism. 

During  his  visit  to  that  territory,  in  the  year  1907, 
the  Right  Hon.  Winston  Churchill  was  so  deeply 
impressed — as  was  Mr.  Eoosevelt,  who  visited  the 
same  region  in  1909 — by  what  he  saw  of  the 
wondrous  change  which  had  been  wrought,  and  the 
wonderful  moral  triumphs  which  had  been  won  by 

234 


The  Nineteenth   Century 

the  Gospel,  that  he  has  borne  the  most  emphatic 
testimony  to  the  vahie  of  the  work  done  by  the 
Missionaries.  He  found  that  a  great  Christian 
nation  had  been  born  in  the  very  heart  of  the 
Dark  Continent.  He  most  emphatically  declares 
that  nothing  makes  for  peace  and  progress,  and 
for  the  removal  of  the  great  open  sores  under 
which  Africa  groans,  like  the  work  and  in- 
fluence of  the  Missionaries.  AVhen  he  opened 
the  Orient  Exhibition  in  London,  he  quoted  with 
approval  the  testimony  of  Sir  George  Le  Hunte, 
who  spoke  with  even  greater  authorit}^  than  that 
of  a  mere  traveller  in  Africa.  Speaking  of  New 
Guinea,  he  said  :  "  The  Government  owe  every- 
thing to  the  Missions.  I  wish  I  could  make  you 
fully  realise  what  Missions  mean  to  the  Adminis- 
tration. It  would  have  to  be  doubled,  perhaps 
quadrupled,  in  strength  if  it  were  not  for  the  little 
whitewashed  houses  along  the  coast  where  the 
Missionaries  live.  So  every  penny  contributed  to 
these  Missions  is  a  help  to  the  King's  Government, 
every  penny  spent  on  Missionaries  saves  a  pound 
to  the  Administration ;  for  the  Missions  bring 
peace,  and  law,  and  order." 

What  a  change  from  what  was  once  the  official 
attitude,  to  find  a  Governor  of  a  British  territory 
making  such  a  statement ;  and  to  find  it  taken  up 
and  made  his  own  by  a  Cabinet  Minister,  because 

235 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

of  what  he  himself  has  seen.  It  seems  as  if  it 
were  but  yesterday  that  the  authorities  both  at 
home  and  abroad  were  inclined  to  look  on  Mission- 
aries with  suspicion  and  dislike,  and  as  potential 
disturbers  of  the  peace ;  or  since  Missions  were 
made  the  butt  of  many  silly  and  insolent  jokes 
and  of  much  impertinence.  And  it  is  the  light 
which  has  scattered  the  darkness. 

The  testimony  as  to  Uganda  can  be  paralleled 
from  many  another  Mission  field.  After  fifty 
years  of  labour  in  the  Sandwich  Islands,  the  group 
has  not  only  ceased  to  be  ranked  among  Foreign 
Mission  districts,  but  has  taken  its  place  among 
the  Christian  communities.  In  the  Fiji  Islands 
work  began  in  1835 ;  and  only  half  a  century 
later  thirteen  churches  could  be  counted,  and  it 
could  be  claimed  that  in  no  part  of  Scotland  were 
there  fewer  homes  without  family  worship.  Yet 
confessedly  the  aboriginal  savages  in  Fiji  stood  un- 
rivalled as  a  disgrace  to  mankind  ;  and  as  a  proof 
of  the  depths  to  which  paganism  can  sink  a  com- 
munity. Crime  seemed  to  be  inwrought  in  the 
very  soul  of  the  people.  The  grossest  vices  pol- 
luted every  hearth,  gave  force  to  every  social  and 
political  institution,  and  turned  religious  worship 
into  orgies  of  surpassing  horror. 

Less  than  a  century  ago,  Henry  Martyn,  having 
made  but  one  Moslem  convert  in  the  course  of  his 

236 


The  Nineteenth  Century- 
brief  but  bright  career,  declared  the  conversion  of 
a  Hindu  to  be  a  miracle  as  stupendous  as  raising 
the  dead.  Yet  now  not  only  are  there  1,000,000 
members  in  the  Indian  churches,  with  many 
Hindus  among  them ;  but  for  the  last  fifty  years 
the  progress  in  the  membership  in  these  native 
churches  has  represented  fifty  per  cent,  for  each 
decade.  If  there  were  growth  like  that  in  the 
Home  churches,  what  a  change  would  be  wrought, 
and  how  little  we  would  hear  about  arrested  de- 
velopment, or  another  ice-age  !  The  conversion 
of  the  Karen  people  in  Burma  is  one  of  the 
most  encouraging  stories  in  all  these  glorious 
records.  They  accepted  Christ  en  masse,  and  are 
now  a  Christian  nation,  with  a  church  in  nearly 
every  village,  in  which  Karen  pastors  supported 
by  the  people  minister  to  Christ-loving  flocks. 

Nor  is  the  story  of  China  one  whit  less  wonder- 
ful— it  is  even  more  wonderful,  if  that  be  possible. 
The  first  Missionary  for  Christ  in  modern  times 
entered  that  vast  Empire  in  1807,  after  the  nine- 
teenth century  was  well  begun  ;  and  as  late  as 
1842  there  were  only  six  Missionaries  among  so 
many.  In  1853,  there  were  still  only  52.  Even 
in  1870,  although  there  had  been  a  notable  in- 
crease, there  were  still  only  262  among  all  the 
teeming  millions.  And  such  as  they  were,  these 
were  all  on  the  nine  seaboard  provinces  of  Eastern 

237 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

China ;  and  the  nine  inland  provinces,  with  a 
population  estimated  at  150,000,000,  were  still 
utterly  untouched.  But  since  1880  there  has 
been  an  extraordinary  expansion ;  so  that  in 
1900,  including  the  wives  of  Missionaries,  there 
was  an  army  of  2800  Protestant  Missionaries  at 
work.  It  is  estimated,  too,  that  when  the  present 
century  began  the  number  of  converts  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Protestant  Missions  was  100,000, 
as  against  13,000  only  twenty-two  years  before. 
And  although  in  that  same  year,  1900,  the  sky 
was  darkened  and  the  whole  outlook  changed  by 
the  unhappy  Boxer  rising  and  massacres,  the  blood 
of  the  martyrs  has  been  the  seed  of  the  Church. 

Since  1908,  a  veritable  year  of  grace,  the  tidings 
from  Manchuria,  where  that  seed  was  so  plentifully 
sown,  have  told  of  something  very  like  another 
Pentecost  in  that  much-enduring  land.  No  one 
can  say  how  far  the  tidal  wave  may  spread.  It 
may  even  touch  the  homelands  in  all  their  sorrow- 
ful impotence.  We  might  call  it  the  irony  of 
God  if  the  great  revival  for  which  the  Church  is 
everywhere  longing,  and  which  many  are  expecting 
to  come  soon,  should  come  by  way  of  the  foreign 
field ;  but  that  would  be  in  harmony  with  much 
else  in  history,  and  if  only  the  awakening  comes, 
it  matters  not  how  it  comes,  whether  from  the 
East  or  the  West. 

238 


The  Nineteenth  Century 

As  for  Japan,  the  truth  there  seems  stranger 
than  fiction,  as  it  seeks  to  set  forth  what  the 
nineteenth  century  has  witnessed  of  the  grace  and 
might  of  God.  For  more  than  two  centuries — 
from  1637,  that  is,  when  the  Jesuits  were  finally 
driven  out  and  all  traces  of  their  work  had 
been  swept  away,  till  1853,  when  her  modern 
history  began — Japan  lay  completely  shut  off"  from 
the  rest  of  the  world.  Even  after  the  treaties  of 
1854  it  was  as  much  shut  off  from  the  Gospel  as 
before,  and  more  determined  than  ever  to  remain 
a  forbidden  land.  But  God  Himself  invaded  the 
hermit  nation  to  which  He  seems  to  have  assigned 
such  pre-eminence  in  the  Far  East. 

One  day  an  English  New  Testament  was  found 
floating  in  the  Bay  of  Yeddo,  and  this  proved  to 
be  the  good  seed  out  of  which  the  tree  of  modern 
Japanese  Christianity  was  destined  to  grow.  No 
one  knew  English,  but  an  interpreter  was  found. 
Such  was  the  interest  which  was  evoked,  that 
help  for  the  right  understanding  of  the  Book  was 
invited  from  Shanghai,  and  the  good  work  was 
begun  which  was  to  result  in  making  the  Britain 
of  the  Eastern  seas  Christian  as  well  as  civilised. 
The  first  baptism  took  place  in  1864;  but  the 
progress  was  still  so  slow  that  seven  years  later 
there  were  only  ten  baptized  converts.  The 
infant  Church  was,  however,  vital  enough  to  invite 

239 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

persecution  and  overcome  it.  As  recently  as  1868 
— little  more  than  forty  years  ago,  that  is — a  decree 
newly  issued  against  Christianity  could  be  seen 
on  the  notice  boards  throughout  the  Empire  ;  and 
until  1872,  the  "vile  Jesus  doctrine,"  as  it  was 
called,  was  prohibited  by  the  law  of  the  land,  on 
pain  of  death.  It  was  not  till  1888  that  the 
Japanese  got  the  whole  Bible  in  their  own 
tongue. 

In  the  year  1876,  however,  a  big  step  was 
taken  on  the  upward  way,  when  the  Christian 
Sabbath  was  made  an  official  holiday  by  the 
Government ;  and  in  the  following  year  the 
Missions  of  the  American  Presbyterians,  who  had 
been  the  first  in  the  field,  joined  hands  with  the 
Missions  of  the  other  American  Reformed  churches, 
and  the  Scottish  United  Presbyterians,  in  forming 
the  Union  Church  of  Christ  in  Japan. 

Since  then  there  have  been  both  ups  and  downs  ; 
the  former  being  due  to  genuine  revival  and  true 
growth,  and  the  latter  to  the  craving  of  the  proud, 
and  it  may  be  conceited,  Japanese  to  develop 
a  native  type  of  Christianity  all  their  own.  So 
far  as  their  desire  is  a  protest  against  carrying  the 
peculiarities  of  Western  Christianity  into  the  Far 
East,  it  is  altogether  right  and  proper ;  but  it  has 
often  meant  more  than  that.  It  has  sometimes 
meant  a  determination  to  build  up  a  new  system 

240 


The  Nineteenth  Century 

which  would  not  be  Christian  at  all.  All  the 
same,  Christianity  is  now  a  power  in  the  land. 
There  are  Christian  members  in  the  Parliament  of 
Japan  ;  Christian  judges  in  her  courts ;  Christian 
professors  in  her  colleges ;  Christian  editors  in 
charge  of  some  of  her  leading  newspapers ; 
Christian  officers,  generals,  and  admirals  in  her 
army  and  navy. 

At  the  close  of  the  nineteenth  century,  it  was 
estimated  that  there  were  in  Japan  some  40,000 
Protestant  converts,  25,000  belonging  to  the  Greek 
Church,  and  54,000  Roman  Catholics.  The  Pro- 
testant Missions,  it  is  said,  have  been  most  success- 
ful among  the  educated  classes,  and  the  Romish 
Missions  most  successful  among  the  poor.  Mean- 
while, however,  the  forces  of  reaction  are  in  the 
ascendant  both  among  the  masses  and  the  classes  ; 
and  the  hardest  battle  which  the  Gospel  has  to  fight  is 
against  the  tide  of  national  pride  and  independence 
which  set  in  after  the  victory  over  Russia.  Japan 
is  now  a  great  naval  and  military  power,  even  if 
she  is  by  no  means  so  great  as  she  imagines  herself 
to  be ;  and  she  is  unwilling  to  bow  any  longer 
before  anything  in  religion  or  government  which 
has  to  be  borrowed  from  the  West.  But  the  truth 
of  God  will  vindicate  itself  as  it  has  done  before, 
as  indigenous  to  the  Orient  as  truly  as  to  the 
Occident,  and  as  the  universal  religion. 
N.E.— 16  241 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

This  reference  to  the  Missions  of  the  Church  of 
Rome  in  Japan  suggests  a  word  here  as  to  these 
Missions  as  a  whole.  It  is  not  necessary  to  discuss 
their  value  at  length ;  but  it  is  necessary  to  note 
that  during  the  nineteenth  century  they  have 
attained  vast  dimensions.  At  the  end  of  the 
century,  a  Paris  Society,  the  largest  Roman 
Catholic  Society  for  Missions  in  the  world,  the 
Soci^te  des  Missions  iStrangers,  had  34  bishops, 
1100  Missionaries,  680  native  priests,  and  a  native 
following  of  nearly  1,250,000  all  over  Eastern 
Asia.  At  the  same  period,  too,  the  Jesuits  had 
116  Missionaries  in  Europe,  233  in  Africa,  988 
in  Asia,  550  in  Oceania,  1246  in  North  America, 
and  856  in  South  America — or  3989  in  all. 

In  1895,  the  Propaganda  returned  the  number 
of  those  in  the  heathen  world  who  adhered  to  the 
Church  of  Rome  as  3,606,000.  And  while  it  is 
impossible  to  rejoice  in  their  work,  it  would  be 
ungenerous  to  ignore  the  devotion  and  enterprise 
of  many  of  the  agents  of  Rome,  whatever  may  be 
thought  of  those  who  send  them.  On  the  Congo, 
for  example,  in  some  ways  they  divide  the  honours 
with  the  Protestants;  a  band  of  Cardinal  Lavigerie's 
white-robed  Fathers  having  been  at  work  in  that 
benighted  region  since  1883.  Even  there,  however, 
they  have  shown  the  cloven  hoof  in  condoning  the 
iniquities  of  the  late  King  Leopold's  agents  against 

242 


The  Nineteenth  Century 

the  unanimous  testimony  of  all  other  Missionaries, 
apparently  for  political  reasons.  Nor  is  it  possible 
to  forget  that,  whatever  may  be  the  zeal  and 
ardour  of  her  humbler  agents,  the  motto  of  Rome 
as  a  system  is  semper  eadem ;  and  even  although 
it  may  appear  intolerant  to  say  it,  it  is  never- 
theless cause  for  sincere  regret  that  so  many  of 
those  who  are  being  called  out  of  heathen  dark- 
ness are  getting  their  first  impressions  of  Christ 
and  His  salvation  through  channels  which  have 
been  defiled  by  pagan  sacramentarianism  and 
corrupt  sacerdotalism. 

This  subject  was  fully  discussed  at  the  great 
Missionary  Conference  which  was  held  in  London 
in  1888  ;  and  the  men  who  are  most  in  love  with 
Missions,  and  who  know  the  truth  at  first  hand, 
all  spoke  sorrowfully  and  solemnly  of  the  objection- 
able methods  and  the  baneful  results  of  Roman 
Catholic  Missions,  as  they  had  come  into  actual 
contact  with  them.  Men  of  such  varied  experience 
and  ecclesiastical  connections  as  the  late  Dean  Vahl 
of  the  Danish  Evangelical  Missionary  Society,  Rev. 
Henry  Stout  of  the  Reformed  Church  of  America 
at  work  in  Japan,  Dr.  Post  of  the  Syrian  Pro- 
testant College  in  Beyrout,  Rev.  J.  A.  B.  Cook  of 
the  English  Presbyterian  Mission  at  Singapore, 
Rev.  G.  W.  Clark  of  the  China  Inland  Mission, 
Rev.  H.  Williams  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society, 

243 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

from  Bengal,  the  late  Dr.  Murray  Mitchell,  and 
many  others,  had  all  the  same  sad  tale  to  tell. 
They  testified  that  Roman  Catholic  Missions  often 
make  use  of  unworthy  and  unjustifiable  means ; 
that  they  trust  to  catechisms,  the  crucifix,  the 
adoration  of  angels,  the  Virgin,  and  the  Host,  as 
well  as  to  the  confessional,  austere  penances,  and 
gorgeous  ceremonial,  rather  than  to  the  Gospel  and 
the  Word  of  Grod.  In  his  Missionary  Achieve- 
ment, Dr.  W.  T.  Whitley  tells  of  "a  Protestant 
visitor  to  South  India  twelve  years  ago  who 
watched  a  Roman  Catholic  open-air  service  for 
twenty  minutes  under  the  impression  that  it  was 
a  pforgeous  heathen  function." 

These  witnesses  showed  conclusively  that  Scrip- 
ture has  a  very  small  place  in  their  propaganda. 
They  also  made  it  clear  that  when  they  are  looked 
at  over  a  wide  enough  expanse  of  years,  the  results 
of  the  diff'erent  systems  abundantly  justify  the 
confidence  which  the  Evangelical  Missionaries  put 
on  the  power  of  the  truth  and  of  the  Spirit  of 
God,  as  well  as  on  the  influence  of  the  holy  lives 
of  men  and  women  w^ho  are  the  temples  of  the 
Holy  Ghost. 

In  Canada,  for  example,  only  a  small  and  feeble 
remnant  is  now  left  of  the  Romish  Missions  which 
have  been  in  existence  there  for  three  centuries. 
So,  also,  there  is  now  hardly  anything  to  show  for 

244 


The  Nineteenth  Century 

three  and  a-half  centuries  of  work  in  California, 
Mexico,  and  Central  Africa.  In  South  America, 
where  there  were  once  extensive  Missions  on  the 
Orinoco,  the  Eio  Negro,  and  the  river  Plate,  all  are 
practically  gone.  And  it  is  so  also  with  the  early 
Romish  efforts  in  India,  China,  and  Japan.  The 
Missionaries  took  to  do  with  politics  and  trade,  and 
were  the  tools  of  European  powers  seeking  only 
for  markets  and  territorial  expansion ;  and  they 
often  incurred  the  contempt  and  hatred  of  those 
among  whom  they  worked,  instead  of  winning 
their  affection  and  respect.  Their  boasted  celibacy, 
too,  with  some  advantages  has  had  many  draw- 
backs ;  and  those  who  speak  with  authority  say 
that  one  Christian  Missionary  home,  w4th  a 
Christian  wife  and  family,  does  more  to  humanise, 
elevate,  and  evangelise  a  corrupt  community  than 
twenty  celibate  men. 

And  so,  with  every  desire  to  be  generous  as  well 
as  just,  we  can  but  renew  our  expression  of  regret 
that  any  heathen  nation  should  only  know  Christ 
as  Rome  proclaims  Him,  or  should  begin  the 
Christian  life  by  coming  under  the  Romish  yoke, 
which  neither  we  nor  our  fathers  were  able  to  bear. 
"In  noting  the  Missionary  character  of  the  Church," 
says  Dr.  Horton,  "  we  must  be  careful  to  remember 
that  it  is  essentially  bound  up  with  the  ethical 
evangel.     Nothing  is  more  alien  from  Christ  than 

245 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

to  proselytise  with  the  effect  of  making  men  worse 
or  leaving  them  as  they  were.  Islam  proselytises 
in  the  interests  of  Allah  and  his  prophet.  Christ 
seeks  men  only  to  save  them,  and  His  Church 
works  in  the  same  way.  Christ  does  not  seek 
His  own  glory,  nor  does  the  Church.  But  in  her 
burns  that  love  which  is  of  God,  the  passion  to 
save.  The  Church  loses  its  intrinsic  character  if 
it  ceases  to  be  missionary ;  but  still  more  does 
it  lose  its  intrinsic  character  if  it  becomes  prose- 
lytising. The  effort  to  swell  her  numbers,  to 
increase  her  dominion,  to  strengthen  her  authority, 
is  a  departure  from  her  Lord.  And  if  she  adopts 
the  tricks  and  wiles  of  the  world  in  the  enterprise, 
sacrificing  humility,  truth,  justice,  mercy,  com- 
passing sea  and  land  to  make  one  proselyte, 
scheming,  intriguing,  fighting  in  councils  or  on 
backstairs,  endeavouring  to  conquer  the  world  by 
the  world's  ways,  to  gain  men  as  her  subjects, 
rather  than  to  save  them,  she  loses  the  first  note, 
the  intrinsic  quality  which  identifies  her  with. the 
original  society  of  Jesus.  She  may  even  become, 
like  Rome  herself,  '  the  mother  of  harlots  and  of 
the  abominations  of  the  earth,' " 

And  now  we  may  turn  to  some  of  the  more 
outstanding  and  dominating  facts  and  features 
of  the  Foreign  Mission  history  of  this  nineteenth 
century,  by  way  of  seeking  inspiration  and  guidance 

246 


The  Nineteenth  Century 

for  our  own  new  era.  It  was  a  century  of  expansion, 
differentiation,  and  consolidation.  It  was  a  century 
of  fresh  outgoings  and  experiments,  when  work  was 
done  or  attempted  along  many  lines.  In  some  cases 
the  work  has  been  done  by  Church  Mission  Boards 
and  Committees  directly  responsible  to  those  who 
appointed  them.  In  other  cases  it  has  been  done 
by  Missionary  Societies  responsible  only  to  their 
members  and  subscribers,  and  representing  either 
more  churches  than  one,  or  some  special  section 
in  one  great  Church.  There  have  also  been  cases 
in  which  the  work  was  done  by  purely  personal 
Missions,  under  no  control  of  Church  or  Society, 
and  able  therefore  to  act  freely ;  and  doubtless 
there  has  been  room  and  need  for  all  the  ways  of 
it.  Personal  Missions  have  their  obvious  risks, 
inasmuch  as  there  may  be  neither  permanence 
nor  continuity  of  policy ;  while  Missions  carried 
on  by  Societies  have  difficulties  to  face  also  when 
their  converts  must  be  organised  into  congregations 
and  churches.  But  many  of  these  dangers  probably 
exist  in  theory  rather  than  in  practice  ;  and  where 
there  is  loyalty  to  the  Spirit  of  God,  He  will  guide 
those  who  are  in  the  work  to  the  appropriate 
organisation.  And  in  that  connection  Church 
Missions  may  have  their  dangers  too.  There 
may  be  too  great  a  desire  to  reproduce  creeds  and 
constitutions  in  Asia  and  Africa,  which  have  grown 

247 


The  Call  of  the   New  Era 

up  in  circumstances  which  are  altogether  different, 
and  which  have  little  meaning  apart  from  their 
historical  development. 

Within  recent  years,  however,  there  have  been 
many  examples  of  union  and  co-operation  in  the 
Foreign  field  ;  and  neither  the  Home  Churches  nor 
the  Home  Societies  have  shown  any  disposition 
to  impress  their  own  peculiarities  on  the  young 
Christian  communities  which  are  springing  up  in 
the  regions  beyond.  The  only  exceptions  to  this 
rule  are  to  be  found  among  those  who  are  dominated 
by  sacerdotalism  and  sacramentarianism.  For,  if 
we  take  the  term  in  its  wider  acceptation,  it  is 
still  true,  both  of  the  work  at  home  and  of  the 
work  abroad,  that  clericalism  is  the  enemy. 

It  is  very  striking  to  find  how  much  the  deaths 
of  prominent  Missionaries  have  had  to  do  with 
Missionary  expansion  in  the  nineteenth  century. 
The  Churches  at  home  felt  that  they  could  never 
retreat  from  the  lands  in  which  they  had  become 
infeft  by  the  burial  of  their  dead.  Two  fine  in- 
stances of  this  are  the  death  of  David  Livingstone, 
at  Ilala,  in  Central  Africa,  on  1st  May,  1873,  and 
the  martyrdom  of  Bishop  Hannington  among  the 
Masai,  in  October,  1885.  Most  of  the  Mission 
work  now  being  carried  on  in  Central  Africa  owes 
its  origin  to  the  spiiit  which  was  evoked  by  the 
story  of  Livingstone's  death  ;   and  it  is  undoubted 

248 


The  Nineteenth  Century 

that  the  murder  of  Hannington  also  touched  the 
heart  and  conscience  of  the  homeland  deeply  and 
fruitfully. 

The  birth  and  boyhood  of  David  Livingstone 
take  us  back  to  the  time  when  Scotland  was 
coming  under  the  influence  of  the  Evangelical 
Revival.  The  first  of  Chalmers's  great  Missionary 
sermons  was  preached  the  year  before  the  future 
Missionary  was  born,  in  the  year  1813  ;  and  the 
second  the  year  after  he  was  born.  Livingstone 
was  accepted  by  the  London  Missionary  Society  in 
1830,  and  set  out  for  Africa  two  years  later.  It 
is  worth  noting  that  he  had  set  his  heart  on  going 
to  China,  and  was  deeply  disappointed  that  he 
had  to  go  to  the  Dark  Continent,  with  which  his 
name  and  fame  are  now  so  inextricably  bound  up. 
In  1844  he  married  Mary  Mofi'at,  the  daughter 
of  Robert  ]\Ioffat,  the  famous  South  African 
Missionary.  From  that  time  till  his  death,  in 
1873,  he  laboured  for  Christ  with  an  unflinching 
and  self-sacrificing  energy  and  courage,  which 
entitle  him  to  rank  among  the  great  and  strong 
who  have  been  able  single-handed  to  influence 
human  progress  and  the  advancement  of  human 
knowledge. 

His  body  was  brought  home  and  laid  with  all 
honour  in  Westminster  Abbey,  amid  tokens  of 
mourninsf   and    admiration    such   as   are  accorded 

o 

249 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

only  to  the  supremely  great.  Nor  was  that  the 
best,  for  everywhere  the  claims  of  Africa  were 
anew  and  impressively  brought  home  to  the 
Christian  community  as  they  had  never  been  before ; 
and  since  then  enormous  strides  have  been  made, 
alike  in  the  work  he  loved,  and  in  the  land  for 
which  he  died.  The  great  Mission  of  the  United 
Free  Church  of  Scotland,  under  Dr.  Laws,  which 
bears  Livingstone's  name,  and  in  connection  with 
which  there  has  been  continuous  revival  in  recent 
years  among  the  natives  around  Lake  Nyassa,  is  only 
one  of  many  of  the  fruits  of  his  life  and  death. 

As  for  Hannington,  he  is  among  the  most 
lovable  and  winsome  of  the  modern  heroes  of  the 
Mission  field.  As  a  lad  he  was  known  as  "  mad 
Jim";  but  in  his  "harum  scarum "  heart  there 
grew  up  a  great  love  for  Christ,  and  a  great  com- 
passion for  those  who  were  in  ignorance  of  Him 
and  His  grace.  He  was  only  thirty-eight  when  he 
laid  down  his  life  for  Africa  and  his  Lord ;  but  he 
was  lion-hearted  all  through  his  sufierings  and 
cruel  death,  and  even  in  his  dying  he  called  others 
to  follow  on  and  take  up  the  work.  And  others 
heard  and  obeyed.  One  of  the  marvels  of  modern 
Mission  work  has  been  the  way  in  which  conse- 
crated men  and  women  have  been  eager  to  enter 
in  where  the  pioneers  have  fallen  at  their  posts  : 
and  great  as  many  of  our  Missionaries  have  been 

250 


The  Nineteenth  Century 

in  their  living,  many  of  them  have  been  even  greater 
in  their  dying,  and  more  fruitful  far.  Those  whom 
they  have  inspired  have  done  much  to  redeem  our 
materialistic,  pleasure-loving,  money-seeking  age 
from  the  accusation  that  the  ages  of  heroism  and 
faith  are  gone ;  and  many  Christian  hearts  are 
filled  with  the  conviction  that  the  Church  can 
never  abandon  the  territories  where  her  heroes  and 
heroines  have  laid  down  their  lives,  and  where  her 
dead  have  been  laid. 

As  a  contrast  to  this  infeftment  by  burial,  and 
yet  in  strict  harmony  with  it,  is  another  of  the 
outstanding  and  picturesque  facts  of  the  Mission 
history  of  the  nineteenth  century — the  departure 
for  China  in  1884  and  1885  of  the  Cambridge 
seven,  including  Mr.  Stanley  Smith  and  Mr. 
C.  T.  Studd,  in  connection  with  the  work  of  the 
China  Inland  Mission,  through  w^hich  so  much 
enduring  service  has  been  done.  Even  as  the  cry 
of  the  dying  veteran  out  in  the  wilds,  "  Build  me 
a  hut  to  die  in,"  touched  many  hearts  and  lifted 
up  many  lives  to  a  new  level,  so  the  consecration 
of  these  bright,  cultured  young  lives  in  the  midst 
of  comfort  and  plenty  went  home  to  many  a  heart 
which  might  not  otherwise  have  been  touched,  and 
led  to  many  a  dedication  of  everything  to  God 
for  service  wherever  He  chose  to  use  the  sur- 
rendered lives. 

251 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

Until  1815,  most  of  the  Missionaries  who  had 
gone  out  to  the  front  had  had  no  definite  training 
for  the  work,  and  in  not  a  few  instances  they  had 
not  even  received  a  special  training  of  any  sort. 
Many  of  them  were  artisans  and  peasants  by  birth  ; 
and  while  they  were  none  the  worse  for  that,  but 
in  the  same  company  as  Luther  and  the  Apostles 
and  our  Lord  Himself,  it  is  full  of  significance  that 
now  all  ranks  and  classes  are  joining  in  the  service, 
and  that  so  many  are  volunteering  who  are  able 
to  go  at  their  own  charges, 

A  signal  instance  of  how  the  new  conception  of 
the  work  is  spreading  is  to  be  found  in  the  rise  of 
the  Student  Volunteer  Movement,  through  which 
so  many  of  the  brightest  and  best  of  the  young 
men  and  women  of  our  time  have  devoted  them- 
selves and  their  gifts  and  training  to  the  service 
of  Christ  in  foreign  lands ;  many  of  them  inspired 
by  the  conviction  that  even  in  this  generation  the 
whole  world  may  hear  the  story  of  redeeming  love. 
They  do  not  seem  to  be  all  at  one  in  their  inter- 
pretation of  their  battle-cry,  but  they  are  in  no 
doubt  as  to  its  inspiring  power. 

This  fruitful  movement  was  initiated  in  America 
in  the  very  year,  1886,^  which  brought  home  the 

^  Four  years  before  that,  in  1882,  twelve  divinity  students  of  the 
Free  Church  of  Scotland's  New  College,  Edinburgh,  volunteered 
and  were  all  sent  to  the  Mission  field,  save  one  who  was  rejected 
by  the  doctor  for  tropical  service. 

252 


The  Nineteenth  Century- 
sad  tidings  of  the  martyrdom  of  Hannington,  and 
it  was  organised  in  Great  Britain  in  1892.  Within 
the  ten  years  which  followed  no  fewer  than  1880 
students  in  colleges  in  the  United  Kingdom  signed 
a  declaration  expressing  their  purpose,  "  if  God 
permit,"  to  be  Foreign  Missionaries ;  and,  more 
noteworthy  still,  during  that  period  as  many  as 
733  actually  went  out  and  began  work  in  the 
foreign  field. 

Probably,  however,  the  most  outstanding  feature 
of  the  growth  of  the  Mission  work  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  as  it  has  reached  the  enormous 
dimensions  already  indicated,  has  been  the  way 
in  which  it  has  been  specialised  and  differenti- 
ated, so  that  the  attack  on  heathenism  might 
be  made  in  every  possible  fashion,  and  that  the 
gifts  of  the  Mission  agents  might  be  best  em- 
ployed in  the  attack.  Along  with  the  "  harmless- 
ness  of  the  dove,"  the  simplicity  of  spirit  which 
cannot  but  characterise  those  who  have  given 
themselves  wholly  to  God,  there  has  also  been 
much  of  the  "  wisdom  of  the  serpent " — strenuous 
endeavour  to  make  the  most  of  the  ways  and 
means  and  of  every  varying  circumstance,  and 
to  be  original  and  ingenious  in  the  determination 
to  give  the  best  to  God. 

From  the  first  it  was  seen  that  educational  work 
is  of  surpassing  importance,  especially  among  such 

253 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

ancient  civilisations  as  those  of  India,  China,  and 
Japan.  In  India  in  particular,  with  its  non- 
Christian  and  anti-Christian  schools  and  colleges,  it 
has  been  felt  to  be  imperative  that  there  should 
be  a  great  system  of  educational  Missions.  And 
as  the  years  go  by  there  is  a  new  unanimity  in 
this  respect.  Of  old  there  was  a  certain  jealousy 
of  such  work,  as  a  departure  from  the  imperative 
duty  and  privilege  of  preaching  the  Gospel ;  but  it 
is  now  recognised  that  there  can  be  no  more  splen- 
did opportunity  to  preach  Christ  than  in  Christian 
schools  and  colleges.  Even  the  China  Inland 
Mission,  so  honourably  associated  with  the  deter- 
mination not  to  know  anything  among  the  heathen 
save  Jesus  Christ  and  Him  Crucified,  have  now  the 
courage  to  raise  the  triple  cry  as  descriptive  of 
their  work  :  "  Itineration,  Organisation,  and  Edu- 
cation." They  truly  say,  however,  that  the  basis  of 
all  their  educational  work  must  be  essentially 
Christian,  otherwise  they  would  only  produce 
polished  pagans,  which  is  "no  part  of  the  duty 
of  the  Missionary  of  the  Cross." 

Industrial  Missions,  again,  have  been  found  to 
be  of  the  utmost  value  in  Africa ;  in  India  among 
famine  orphans  ;  and  among  tribes  formerly  given 
up  to  pillage  and  warfare.  Even  as  it  was  among 
the  barbarians  who  once  menaced  the  Empire  in  its 
decadent  days,  so  it  is  with  the  African  aborigines. 

254 


The  Nineteenth  Century 

They  can  only  be  saved  from  idleness  and  savagery  by 
giving  them  something  to  possess  and  protect,  and 
by  teaching  them  the  arts  and  crafts  of  civilisation  ; 
and  what  are  called  "Artisan  Missionaries "  have 
been  among  the  most  devoted  servants  our  Lord 
has  had  in  the  dark  places  of  the  earth.  This 
same  tendency  to  specialisation  has  led  along 
somewhat  different  lines  to  such  special  Missions 
as  those  to  the  lepers,  and  to  special  districts,  as 
the  China  Inland  Mission,  with  its  beneficent 
services  in  the  interior  of  the  vast  Empire  of 
China. 

Of  all  the  developments,  however,  which  the 
nineteenth  century  has  witnessed,  it  is  in  no  way 
invidious  to  say  that  the  most  epoch-making 
have  been  those  connected  with  medical  Mission 
work,  and  with  the  work  of  women  Mission- 
aries, both  for  other  w^omen  and  for  Mission  work 
generally.  Medical  Missions  are  now  recognised 
everywhere  to  be  an  all-important  branch  of 
the  work  of  world-evangelisation.  When  it  is 
borne  in  mind  how  crude  and  cruel  many  of  the 
native  methods  of  dealing  with  disease  and  sick- 
ness are,  it  can  be  readily  understood  how  miracles 
of  healing  have  been  wrought  in  many  lands  com- 
parable only  with  those  of  Apostolic  days,  even  if 
they  be  on  a  different  plane.  It  is  an  almost 
incredible  boon,  amid  the  empiricism  and  brutality 

255 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

of  pagan  ways,  to  get  the  benefits  of  modern 
medical  and  surgical  skill,  and  the  benefits  also  of 
modern  nursing.  Such  Missions  are  of  peculiar 
value  in  Mohammedan  lands,  where  the  open 
preaching  of  the  Gospel  is  so  difficult,  and  where 
it  is  sometimes  altogether  impossible. 

The  obstacles  to  a  public  avowal  of  faith  in 
Christ  in  such  a  country  as  Morocco,  for  example, 
are  almost  incredibly  great.  In  some  parts,  at 
least,  of  that  land,  even  where  the  most  self- 
sacrificing  work  has  been  done  for  many  years, 
there  has  been  no  instance  of  baptism ;  and 
nothing  but  the  immense  superiority  of  the 
medical  and  surgical  skill  of  the  Missionaries  would 
secure  them  an  entrance  at  all.  Such  Mission  work 
is  just  one  of  the  lines  along  which  we  may  fairly 
expect  nations  to  be  born  in  a  day ;  and  it  is  no 
wonder  that  every  year  sees  rapid  development  of 
this  branch  of  the  work ;  or  that  already  there  are 
more  than  500  fully  qualified  Missionary  doctors  at 
work,  both  men  and  women.  Of  these,  400  labour 
in  connection  with  British  Missions  alone. 

In  the  year  1898,  it  was  calculated  that  in 
British  Mission  hospitals  there  were  over  30,000 
in-patients,  and  that  in  that  same  year  nearly 
1,500,000  visits  were  paid  to  out-patients.  Ac- 
cording to  the  figures  compiled  by  Dr.  Dennis  at 
the  end  of  the  century,  there  were  480  medical 

256 


The  Nineteenth  Century 

men  and  220  medical  women  at  work  in  the 
foreign  field,  and  in  connection  with  their  benefi- 
cent work  there  were  379  Mission  hospitals  and 
783  Mission  dispensaries,  in  addition  to  100  homes 
for  lepers,  and  kindred  institutions.  The  in-patients 
in  these  institutions  in  one  year  were  given  as 
85,169  ;  the  individual  patients  as  2,347,780  ;  and 
the  total  treatments  as  6,442,427. 

Who  can  tell  how  much  this  has  added  to  the 
sum  total  of  human  comfort  and  happiness,  or  how 
many  doors  it  has  opened  to  the  entrance  of  the 
Healer  Christ  ?  It  is  the  great  apologetic,  the  great 
exposition,  and  the  great  Evangelical  appeal,  given 
in  a  form  which  can  hardly  be  misunderstood. 
This  work  reaches  every  rank  and  class,  the  highest 
as  well  as  the  lowest,  as  no  other  does  ;  it  enters 
the  most  closely-sealed  doors  of  harem  or  zenana, 
and  it  speaks  to  every  heart  in  accents  which 
cannot  but  break  down  the  loftiest  barrier  and 
destroy  the  most  inveterate  and  hoary  supersti- 
tions. Not  only  so ;  but  in  its  association  with  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  it  stands  out  in  blessed  contrast 
to  the  native  methods  of  dealing  with  sickness  and 
disease,  many  of  which  are  not  only  incredibly 
absurd,  but  are  usually  associated  with  their  pagan 
priests  and  their  pagan  worship  and  beliefs. 

As  for  the  development  of  women's  work,  which 
has  proceeded  alongside  of  this  and  has  been  a  part 
N.E.— 17  257 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

of  it,  that  also  has  been  very  important  and  very 
beneficent.  According  to  Dr.  Dennis's  figures — and 
in  these  figures  he  has  laid  the  Church  under  lasting 
obligations — if  married  women  are  included,  as  most 
of  them  most  assuredly  ought  to  be,  there  were 
more  women  than  men  at  work  in  the  foreign  field 
at  the  close  of  the  nineteenth  century — an  extra- 
ordinary contrast  to  the  state  of  affairs  when  that 
century  began.  There  were  then  no  unmarried 
white  women  at  work  as  foreign  Missionaries  at 
all ;  there  were  only  a  few  Eurasians.^ 

From  a  very  early  date  the  wives  ot  married 
Missionaries  were,  of  course,  doing  noble  service ; 
but  it  was  only  as  recently  as  the  last  quarter  of 
the  bygone  century  that  either  the  Church  Missions 

^  Dr.  Dennis's  actual  figures  are  that  iu  1900  there  were  8220 
women  and  7280  men  at  work  as  Missionaries  in  the  regions  beyond. 
Even  since  then  great  progress  has  been  made  all  along  the  line,  as 
the  following  figures  compiled  by  Rev.  Dr.  D.  L.  Leonard,  which 
may  be  introduced  here,  abundantly  prove  : — 


1908. 

1909. 

Advance. 

Home  income     . 

£4,569,293 

£4,922,615 

£353,322 

Income  on  field . 

968,763 

971,921 

3,158 

Total  Missionaries 

19,875 

21,834 

1,959 

Ordained  native  helpers 

4,999 

5,929 

930 

Stations  and  out-stations  . 

41,563 

43,934 

2,371 

Communicants  . 

2,056,173 

2,097,963 

41,790 

Baptized  during  year 

164,674 

135,141 

— 

Adherents . 

4,285,199 

4,866,661 

581,462 

Schools 

28,164 

29,190 

1,026 

Scholars     . 

1,290,582 

1,413,995 

123,413 

Only  in  one  respect  has  there  been  a  decline.     It,  however,  is  in  the 
most  important  matter  of  baptisms. 


The  Nineteenth  Century 

or  the  Missionary  Societies  encouraged  the  sending 
out  of  unmarried  women  to  any  appreciable  extent. 
But,  when  once  women's  work  was  fairly  begun,  it 
commended  itself  so  much  that  its  extension  has 
been  phenomenally  rapid.  Not  only  do  Christian 
women  make  splendid  workers  in  the  ordinary 
service  and  in  specialised  forms  of  service  alike ; 
in  the  spirit  of  those  who  were  first  at  the  tomb 
and  last  at  the  cross,  they  have  been  ofi"ering  them- 
selves for  this  work  in  very  large  numbers,  and 
bringing  an  infinite  variety  of  gifts  and  graces  to 
the  service  of  the  King. 

During  the  closing  fifteen  years  of  the  last  century 
the  Church  Missionary  Society  alone  sent  out  no 
fewer  than  500  women  Missionaries ;  while  in  the 
year  1900  the  China  Inland  Mission  alone  had 
300  unmarried  women  on  its  roll.  If  the  total 
number  of  British  Missionaries  be  taken  as  approxi- 
mately 7000,  they  are  made  up  of  1900  married 
men  and  their  wives,  1400  unmarried  men,  and 
1800  unmarried  women — figures  w^hich  bring  out 
in  a  very  striking  way  how  the  women's  side 
of  the  work  has  grown,  and  how  boundless  are 
its  possibilities.  These  women  Missionaries  do 
medical  work,  educational  work,  and  evangelistic 
work.  They  visit  from  house  to  house,  often  w^here 
men  could  not  enter,  and  from  village  to  village. 
They  conduct  classes  for  female  inquirers,  and  classes 

259 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

for  training  native  agents,  and  much  else  of  the 
utmost  importance.  Most  manifestly  women  can 
do  much  for  the  home  and  for  their  sister  women 
which  men  could  never  do,  and  which  nevertheless 
lies  at  the  very  basis  of  all  else.  Not  only  so,  but 
women's  work  for  men  is  also  proving  itself  to  be 
of  infinite  worth. 

It  is  in  no  way  necessary  to  dilate  here  on  the 
noble  Mission  work  which  the  nineteenth  century 
has  seen  done  by  Missionaries  who  came  from 
other  parts  than  the  British  Islands.  The  Colonial 
Churches,  the  Continental  Churches,  and  the  Ameri- 
can Churches  alike,  have  all  been  at  work  and 
doing  noble  service ;  and  in  addition,  some  of  the 
foreign  Mission  Churches  have  themselves  become 
Missionary,  as  they  are  all  bound  to  do  as  soon 
as  they  can  look  over  the  nest  and  can  hear  the 
appeals  of  human  ignorance,  and  misery,  and  need. 
Their  liberality  has  often  been  beyond  praise, 
both  as  regards  men  and  means.  And  here  once 
more  we  see  that  the  most  endurins:  entente 
cordiale  is  that  which  is  found  in  the  foreign  field. 

o 

French  and  Germans  can  work  there  in  spite  of 
Alsace  and  Lorraine ;  Dutch  and  Danes,  Nor- 
wegians and  Swedes,  agree  in  claiming,  and  in 
joining  to  claim,  the  whole  round  earth  for  their 
one  Lord  and  one  faith. 

As  for  the  American  Missions,  they  deserve   a 
260 


The  Nineteenth  Century 

volume  to  themselves.  Their  Missionaries  are  said 
to  number  over  14,800,  and  in  many  lands  they 
are  doing  splendid  and  original  work.  As  for 
the  different  Societies,  there  is  a  constant  rivalry 
among  them,  at  least  in  the  homeland,  which  is 
often  holy  and  always  keen.  The  newer  Societies 
are  said  by  the  older  Societies  to  have  more 
zeal  than  discretion ;  and  the  older  Societies 
are  said  in  turn  by  the  newer  Societies  to  have 
more  discretion  than  zeal.  But  it  cannot  be 
claimed  for  any  of  them  that  their  zeal  has  outrun 
their  discretion.  There  is  always  abundance  of 
discretion  in  all  Christian  communities,  and  it  can- 
not be  truthfully  alleged  even  of  the  newest  Societies 
that  there  has  been  too  much  zeal.  Both  there 
and  here  there  has  always  been  enough  discretion  to 
keep  all  the  zeal  there  was  in  check  ;  and  no  matter 
how  much  the  zeal  increases,  it  is  probable  that 
that  will  always  be  the  case. 

A  deeply  interesting  and  picturesque  feature  of 
the  Mission  work  of  the  bygone  century  is  the 
way  in  which  great  names  have  become  associated 
with  the  various  lands  which  have  been  already  won 
in  whole  or  in  part.  Many  of  these  are  destined 
to  go  down  to  posterity  with  a  sort  of  territorial 
dignity  which  is  as  well  deserved  as  it  is  unique. 
We  are  wont  now  to  speak  of  Gilmour  of  Mongolia, 
of  Chalmers  of  New  Guinea,  of  Paton  of  the  New 

261 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

Hebrides,  and  of  Mackay  of  Uganda,  as  if  they  were 
peers  of  the  realm.  And  truly  they  are  the  aristo- 
crats of  the  Kingdom  of  God  by  a  Divine  creation  ; 
members  of  the  Legion  of  Honour  of  the  Mission 
enterprise,  arbitrarily  chosen,  like  most  legions  of 
honour,  yet  erring  not  in  those  whom  it  includes, 
but  in  some  which  it  has  not  enrolled  as  yet.  This 
new  roll-call  of  the  heroes  of  the  faith  is  already  so 
long  that  time  would  fail  us  to  tell  of  it  in  detail 
or  even  to  name  those  members  of  it  of  whose 
worth  and  work  we  happily  know. 

Eternity  alone  will  reveal  all  that  humanity  and 
the  Church  owe  to  men  and  women  like  Dr.  Jacob 
Chamberlain  among  the  Telugus,  or  Miss  Annie 
Taylor  in  Tibet ;  like  Dr.  James  Stewart  in  Love- 
dale,  or  Dr.  Laws  in  Livingstonia ;  like  Bishop 
Selwyn  and  his  friend  Coleridge  Patteson  in 
Melanesia,  or  Fred  Arnot  in  Garenganze,  or  Bishop 
Horder  aiBong  the  Eskimo  and  the  Indians ;  like 
John  Williams,  the  apostle  of  the  South  Seas,  or 
William  Burns,  the  pioneer  of  North  China,  and 
Hudson  Taylor,  the  pioneer  of  Inland  China ;  like 
Damien  among  the  lepers,  or  James  Calvert  among 
the  cannibals.  They  had  "  trial  of  cruel  mockings 
and  scourgings,  yea,  moreover  of  bonds  and 
imprisonment ;  of  whom  the  world  was  not 
worthy."  But  they,  and  others  like  them,  have 
brought  joy  to  the    sad,  rest   to   the  weary,  and 

262 


The  Nineteenth  Century 

liberty  to  the  captive.  They  have  gone  where 
soldiers  could  not  force  an  entrance.  They  have 
proved  that  the  consecrated  pen  is  mightier  than 
the  sword,  and  the  Gospel  mightier  than  either 
or  both.  They  have  opened  up  the  way  to  all 
sorts  of  social  reform.  And  many  of  the  greatest 
and  best  and  most  heroic  of  them  are  on  no  other 
roll-call  than  the  Lamb's  Book  of  Life ;  and  well 
content  were  they,  and  are  they,  that  it  should 
be  so. 

And  the  very  thought  of  this  great  array  of 
names  and  achievements  shows  how  true  it  is  that 
the  nineteenth  century  stands  out  as  the  great 
Mission  century,  ranking  even  with  the  first. 
When  the  new  era,  which  is  now  calling  believers 
to  the  fray,  leaves  it  far  behind,  as  it  can  and  must, 
it  will  still  be  the  peculiar  glory  of  the  nineteenth 
century  that  it  made  the  twentieth  possible,  and 
that  it  furnished  the  twentieth  with  its  most 
inspiring  examples,  as  well  as  with  many  of  its 
keenest  and  most  useful  tools. 


20: 


CHAPTER   IX 

THE   TWENTIETH   CENTURY 


265 


"  The  night  is  far  spent,  the  day  is  at  hand." — Rom.  13.  12. 

"Christ  alone  can  save  the  world,  but  Christ  cannot  save  the 
world  alone." 

"Each  new  time  its  new  thought 

Must  in  new  words  tell, 
And  the  old  primary  heart  tones 

The  new  music  swell  ; 
And  ever  in  gi'ander  theologies 

Higher  truths  be  sown  ; 
But  unchanged  amid  all  changes 

God's  heart  and  our  own." 


266 


CHAPTER   IX 

THE   TWENTIETH   CENTURY 

npHE  history  of  the  twentieth  century  has  still 
-^  for  the  most  part  to  be  made  ;  and  forecasts, 
even  the  cleverest  and  most  scientific,  are  poor 
substitutes  for  the  actual  record  of  what  God  has 
wrought.  Yet  it  is  much  to  be  able  to  realise 
that  the  clay  is  still  plastic,  that  the  die  has  yet 
to  be  cast ;  and  the  sense  that  we  are  on  the  verge 
of  a  new  era — it  may  perhaps  be  the  last  era — is 
everywhere  present  with  those  who  seek  to  discern 
the  signs  of  the  times,  and  to  be  loyal  to  the 
leading  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  conviction,  too, 
is  both  widespread  and  strong  that  the  situation, 
as  the  Church  must  now  face  it,  is  both  critical 
and  acute. 

If  the  nineteenth  century  began  with  a  new 
enthusiasm  for  the  rights  of  man,  which  showed 
itself  in  reform  both  at  home  and  abroad,  and 
in  unwonted  Mission  enterprise  everywhere,  the 
twentieth  century  has  been   ushered   in  amid  the 

267 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

unquestioned  predominance  of  social  problems. 
There  are  not  a  few  of  these  problems  which  must 
be  solved  somehow,  and  that  ere  long — solved 
peacefully,  if  that  be  possible,  but  possibly  also 
in  violence  and  strife.  The  yearning  prayer  of 
every  believer  must  be  that  the  solution  may  come 
under  the  leadership  of  Christ  and  in  harmony 
with  His  revealed  will.  It  would  be  supremely 
shameful  if,  in  this  Christian  land,  the  nation  were 
to  go  forward  under  an  alien  flag  to  succour  and 
deliver  the  poor,  over  whom  He  yearns  and  who 
used  to  hear  Him  gladly. 

There  is,  indeed,  a  certain  danger  that  this  pre- 
dominance of  the  social  yearnings  and  needs  of  our 
time  may  divert  attention  from  Foreign  Missions, 
and  give  point  to  the  cry  that  until  things  have 
been  put  right  at  home  there  can  be  no  call  to 
go  abroad.  But  when  that  cry  was  raised  in 
the  stirring  times  with  which  the  last  century 
began — and  it  could  be  raised  then  as  appropri- 
ately as  now — it  was  not  admitted  as  valid, 
and  probably  that  will  prove  to  be  the  case  again. 
Spiritual  beings  are  not  built,  like  ships,  in  water- 
tight compartments  ;  and  it  has  been  proved  that, 
when  consciences  are  stirred  and  hearts  are  tender 
about  the  poor  and  needy  in  the  homelands,  they 
are  also  most  keenly  sensitive  about  the  claims  of 
the  downtrodden  and   overshadowed  beyond  the 

268 


The  Twentieth   Century 

seas.  And  the  converse  is  equally  true,  as  all 
history  avers.  Those  who  set  up  the  needs  of  the 
home  field  in  opposition  to  the  needs  of  the 
regions  beyond  are  seldom  seen  to  be  crushed  by 
the  needs  of  the  homelands ;  and  similarly,  those 
who  are  truly  loyal  to  the  call  of  the  new  era  at 
home  will  not  be  found  wanting  in  connection 
with  the  cry  from  abroad  :  "  Come  over  and  help 
us."  Nor  will  those  ever  be  found  wanting  at 
home  who  are  loyal  to  the  Great  Commission, 
which  is  the  charter,  to  the  end  of  the  ages,  of 
the  regions  beyond  and  of  those  in  the  great  lone 
lands  of  the  shadow  of  death. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  situation  among  the 
great  heathen  communities,  especially  in  the  Far 
East,  is  such  as  to  arrest  the  attention  of  all  who 
have  ears  to  hear  and  hearts  to  understand,  with 
an  imperative  appeal  which  makes  itself  heard 
even  amid  the  din  of  the  social  strife  and  turmoil 
at  home.  None  can  question  that  the  situation  at 
home  is  critical  both  in  Church  and  State ;  but  it 
is  equally  unquestionable  in  connection  with  the 
work  abroad,  alike  from  the  blessing  which  God 
has  been  giving  to  the  workers  and  from  the  open 
doors  which  are  crying  out  for  those  who  will 
bring  the  message  of  the  King,  that  a  new  and 
intensely  critical  era  has  come.  Both  at  home  and 
abroad — and  the  two  are  so  inextricably  combined 

269 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

that  it  is  hardly  possible  to  put  asunder  what  God 
has  joined — the  appeal  to  the  Churches  is  such  that 
the  summons  to  all  of  them  ought  to  be  irresistible, 
to  vote  the  matter  urgent,  as  is  sometimes  done 
in  foreign  parliaments,  and  make  a  great  combined 
advance  all  along  the  line.  In  our  day,  we  seem 
to  have  reached  one  of  the  making  or  marring 
times  on  which  all  else  depends ;  those  who  are 
deaf  to  the  new  appeal  not  only  condemn  them- 
selves to  disaster  and  death,  they  pass  judgment 
on  themselves,  and  show  that  they  are  not  right 
with  God. 

On  the  threshold  of  this  new  era,  and  on  the 
verge  of  the  unknown,  the  prayerful  inquirer  is 
conscious  that  there  are  many  diverse  and  antagon- 
istic forces  at  work  all  over  the  battlefield ;  and 
that  while  some  of  them  make  for  the  prosecution 
of  Foreign  Mission  work  more  vigorously  than  ever, 
not  a  few  of  them  are  bitterly  hostile.  Foremost 
among  the  favourable  forces  must  surely  be  put 
the  new  way  of  looking  at  Missions  and  the  Mission 
problem  which  is  now  dominant  in  the  State  as 
well  as  in  the  Church.  In  the  State  it  may  be 
seen  in  the  manner  in  which  the  various  European 
nations  are  now  inclined  to  regard  their  Missionaries 
as  pioneers  of  Empire. 

The  changed  outlook  has  its  obvious  drawbacks. 
It  may  lead  to  the  Gospel  becoming  identified  in 

270 


The  Twentieth  Century 

the  minds  of  native  Governments  and  peoples  with 
schemes  of  aggrandisement  with  which  they  can 
have  no  sympathy ;    while  it   may  also  react  on 
the  Missionaries   themselves   in  such  a  way  that 
their  work  may  sufter,  as  it  has  suffered  both  in 
China  and  on  the  Congo,  through  the  attitude  of 
the  representatives  of  Rome.     And  yet,  with  all  its 
dangers,  it  cannot  but  be  acknowledged  to  be  a 
grateful  change  from  the  time,  not  so  far  distant, 
when  the  various  Governments  did  all  they  could 
to  repress  Missionaries  as  disturbers  of  the  peace 
and  troublers  of  their  Israel,  and  boycotted  them 
through  their  representatives  abroad,  as  those  who 
spoiled  the  natives.     It   is    a   poor  affair  for  the 
ambassadors  of  the    Prince    of  Peace   to  enter  a 
land  behind  Maxim  guns  ;  but  it  is  only  right  and 
proper  that  they  should  get  the  protection  of  their 
flag  when  it  is  being   used   to   promote  peaceful 
expansion.     The  modern  Missionary  as  well  as  the 
ancient  Missionary  may  say,  "  Civis  Romanus  sum,'' 
when  that  will  aid  him  in  his  work  for  Christ. 

There  was  a  time  not  so  remote  when  our 
statesmen  thought  that  the  British  Empire  was 
big  enough,  and  their  responsibilities  already  too 
great.  But  that  time  has  gone  in  the  demand  for 
new  markets,  and  the  process  of  partition  has 
only  ceased  because  meanwhile  there  are  no  more 
territories  to  divide  or   annex.     Along  with  that 

271 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

attitude  has  also  disappeared,  at  least  among  the 
far-seeing,  the  way  of  looking  at  Foreign  Missions 
which  used  to  commend  itself  to  critics  like 
Sydney  Smith,  as  well  as  the  view  which  com- 
mended itself  to  critics  like  Charles  Dickens ;  to 
say  nothing  of  the  view  which  commended  itself 
to  foreign  traders  and  globe-trotters,  whose 
dogmatism  was  in  an  inverse  ratio  to  their 
knowledge.  The  new  Imperialism  may  have  its 
drawbacks  in  the  sphere  of  Missions  as  in  the 
sphere  of  politics,  and  may  sometimes  be  flam- 
boyant and  vainglorious  ;  but  even  so,  its  advent 
is  full  of  significance  and  full  of  possibilities  of 
conquest  of  the  waste  lands  in  the  near  future. 
It  is  foremost  among  the  more  modern  forces 
which  should  be  consecrated  to  the  service  of 
Christ  all  over  the  earth. 

In  the  Church  this  new  attitude  to  Missions 
may  be  taken  as  manifesting  itself  in  such  a 
movement  as  that  of  the  Student  Volunteer, 
backed  up,  as  it  has  been  of  late,  by  the  Young 
People's  Missionary  Movement ;  the  Laymen's 
Missionary  Movement ;  and  the  movement  for 
Mission  Study.  There  may,  indeed,  be  some 
element  of  loss  in  the  growth  of  the  conviction 
that  Foreign  Missions  are  not  to  be  looked  on  as 
exceptional,  but  as  something  which  ought  to  have 
a  place  in    every  Christian   congregation    and   in 

272 


The  Twentieth  Century 

every  Christian  life.  But  there  is  also  the  un- 
speakable gain  which  comes  through  seeing  things 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  Divine,  and  therefore 
getting  away  from  the  merely  accidental  to  that 
which  is  essential  and  eternal. 

Beyond  any  question,  the  normal  state  of  affairs 
should  be  that  Foreign  Missions  are  not  to  be 
engaged  in  merely  when  everything  has  been 
attended  to  at  home — as  if  everything  could  ever 
be  right  there  along  such  lines  ;  but  that  such  work 
should  form  an  integral  part  of  the  regular  opera- 
tions of  every  Christian  church  and  congregation, 
an  integral  part  of  the  living  interests  of  every 
Christian  life.  Opposition  to  Foreign  Missions 
from  within  the  Church  ought  to  be  treated  just 
as  opposition  to  the  work  of  ingathering  at  home 
would  be — as  an  aberration,  that  is,  which  hardly 
requires  to  be  met  by  serious  argument.  To  say 
that  it  is  better  to  leave  the  heathen  nations  as 
they  are,  should  be  held  as  akin  to  saying  that 
evil  social  conditions  should  be  left  as  they  are, 
and  that  it  is  unwise  to  stir  up  strife  with  the 
selfish  and  callous  by  letting  the  light  of  the 
Gospel  shine  in  on  their  unworthy  practices. 

Nothing  but  good  can  come  from  the  serious 
and  systematic  education  of  the  young  people  in 
the  implications  of  the  Gospel  and  the  needs  of 
the  heathen  ;  and  the  more  picturesque  the  educa- 

N.E.— 18  21  X 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

tion  is  the  better,  since  Christ's  service  demands 
our  best.  Similarly,  nothing  but  good  can  come 
from  the  effective  organisation  of  the  "  laymen  " 
for  the  study  and  support  of  this  work ;  and  if 
many  of  them  pray  themselves  into  the  work 
abroad,  who  never  meant  to  go  there,  that  also 
is  an  incidental  by-product  which  likewise  can 
do  nothing  but  good. 

Mr.  Spurgeon  has  it  somewhere  :  "  You  ask  me 
if  the  heathen  will  be  saved  if  you  do  not  send 
them  the  Gospel ;  I  ask  if  you  will  be  saved  unless 
you  do  ? "  Nothing  can  be  as  it  should  be  at 
home  until  there  is  frank  obedience  to  the  plain 
command  of  Christ ;  and  it  may  be  that  the  social 
problems  are  overwhelming  as  they  are  just  now, 
because  there  has  not  been  such  frank  obedience 
all  along  the  line.  Guidance  comes  along  the 
line  of  loyalty  to  clear  orders ;  and  even  if  for 
most  the  duty  at  home  may  seem  the  duty 
"  nearest  us,"  the  command  to  make  disciples  of 
all  nations  is  so  explicit  that  it  too  is  among  the 
duties  nearest  all  who  wish  to  obey  their  Lord. 
Nor  will  it  be  other  than  good  if  this  unification 
of  the  two  sides  of  the  one  whole  should  put  an 
end  to  the  disastrous  conviction  that  the  call  to 
work  in  the  foreign  field  is  something  quite 
different  from  the  call  to  labour  at  home ;  and 
that  anyone  who  goes    abroad    and    comes    home 

274 


The  Twentieth  Century 

again,  for  any  other  reason  than  ill-health  or  old 
age,  is  a  near  relative  of  Lot's  wife. 

God  calls  men  and  women  to  serve  in  all  sorts 
of  ways,  and  there  is  no  warrant  for  the  idea  that 
He  may  not  send  a  man  abroad  to  work  for  Him 
there,  and  later  on  send  him  home  again  to  do 
work  there.  Yet  the  fear  lest  they  should  incur 
the  reproach  of  being  deserters  has  prevented 
many  from  going  abroad  who  felt  that  they  had 
no  warrant  for  binding  themselves  for  life,  although 
they  were  willing  to  go  abroad  at  the  time.  It 
is  one  of  the  wise  features  in  connection  with 
the  Methodist  ministry,  that  men  may  pass  to  and 
from  the  two  branches  of  the  one  work  without 
any  fear  of  being  misunderstood,  and  such  honour- 
able coming  and  going  is  all  for  the  good  of  the 
whole  Church. 

The  twentieth  century  has  inherited  much  from 
the  nineteenth  century  which  ought  to  aid  it 
mightily  in  its  Mission  operations.  There  are, 
for  example,  the  many  native  Churches  which  now 
exist  and  flourish  to  show  what  can  be  done, 
as  well  as  the  gracious  lives  and  deeds  of  the 
many  noble  men  and  women,  no  longer  with  us, 
through  whose  devotion  and  perseverance  they 
came  into  being.  A  century  ago  the  most 
grotesque  misconceptions  prevailed,  and  the 
friends  of  Missions  had  to  argue  against  the  most 

275 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

extraordinary  theories.  Now  we  have  a  great 
body  of  gracious  facts,  which  speak  eloquently  for 
themselves ;  and  if  it  be  true  that  the  native 
Churches  are  not  all  perfect,  and  the  native 
Christians  not  always  as  like  their  Master  as 
they  ought  to  be,  that  is  Still  unfortunately  true 
of  Churches  and  Christians  at  home. 

In  this  connection,  nothing  is  more  striking 
than  the  lofty  standard  which  some  critics  of 
Missions — traders,  travellers,  and  others  in  foreign 
lands — set  up  for  all  who  profess  to  have  come 
under  the  influence  of  the  Missionaries.  Men  who 
are  church  members,  but  are  nevertheless  living 
careless  lives,  are  greatly  shocked  if  those  who 
have  just  been  digged  out  of  the  miry  clay  of  pagan- 
ism are  not  flawless  and  without  reproach;  and 
if  they  are  disappointed  in  a  servant  who  was 
ever  in  a  Mission  school,  they  write  home  that  the 
Missionaries  are  spoiling  the  natives.  It  is  not 
merely  that  they  criticise  without  adequate 
knowledge,  and  without  seeking  for  adequate 
knowledge ;  they  denounce  Missions  as  failures, 
and  their  converts  as  frauds,  on  grounds  which 
would  condemn  the  best  of  the  home  Churches 
without  hope  of  recall. 

Even  the  friends  of  Missions  in  the  homelands 
are  often  most  unreasonable  in  their  expectations 
regarding  the  first  generations  of  those  who  have 

276 


The  Twentieth  Century 

been  rescued  from  heathenism,  and  have  still  to 
live  in  a  heathen  atmosphere.  They  are  cheered 
and  uplifted  when  they  hear  of  men  and  women 
and  children  who  have  been  redeemed  from 
superstition  and  degradation  by  the  power  of  the 
grace  of  Christ ;  but  they  sometimes  forget  how 
much  has  still  to  be  done,  and  how  formidable 
the  obstacles  are.  They  do  not  realise  as  they 
should  the  evil  forces  of  heredity  and  environment 
with  which  these  converts  are  beset ;  forces  so 
formidable  that  even  the  Missionaries  themselves 
groan  under  their  malign  power,  and  feel  them 
to  be  like  great  cloud-banks  of  black  fog  for  ever 
tending  to  bewilder  and  lead  astray.  They  forget, 
too,  what  the  Epistles  of  the  New  Testament 
reveal  regarding  the  faults  and  errors  of  the  first 
generation  of  converts  to  Christ,  even  when  men 
like  Peter  and  Paul  and  John  were  the  Mission- 
aries. 

It  is  hardly  possible  for  those  at  home  to 
imagine  what  the  constant  impact  of  heathenism 
means  for  those  who  are  continually  faced  by  it ; 
and  especially  what  it  must  mean  for  those  who 
have  its  allies  not  merely  in  their  homes  but  in 
their  blood  and  bones.  Some  of  our  best  Mission- 
aries have  spoken  of  it  as  laying  hold  of  tbem 
even  while  they  were  still  out  at  sea,  as  they 
were  returning  to  their  posts,  like  some  pestifer- 

277 


The  Call   of  the  New  Era 

ous  mist  sending  a  chill  to  tlieir  hearts ;  and  it  is 
probable  that  it  would  be  better  if  more  of  the 
Missionaries  were  to  be  explicit  as  to  how  things 
actually  are,  and  were  to  let  the  moral  difficulties 
of  their  converts,  not  to  speak  of  their  own,  be 
better  known  at  home.  It  is  not  their  business 
to  offer  apologies  either  for  little  growth  in 
numbers,  where  that  is  the  case,  or  for  slow  growth 
among  their  converts  in  likeness  to  the  Lord.  It 
is  their  business  to  be  perfectly  frank,  and  to  share 
their  responsibilities,  perplexities,  and  disappoint- 
ments, as  well  as  their  victories  and  joys,  with 
the  Church  and  those  who  are  behind  them  at 
home. 

In  return,  it  should  be  the  business  of  the 
helpers  at  home  to  envelop  those  abroad  in  such 
an  atmosphere  of  prayer  and  faith  as  shall  counter- 
act and  conquer  the  evil  atmosphere  in  which  they 
and  theirs  have  to  work.  It  is  part  of  the  reflex 
influence  of  Foreign  Missions  on  the  Church  at 
home  that  it  tends  to  keep  those  at  home  nearer 
the  rudimentary  and  essential  needs  of  unre- 
generate  men,  and  nearer  the  Divine  provision 
which  alone  prevails ;  and  it  is  all  for  good  that 
the  eternal  antagonism  should  be  more  and  more 
clearly  realised  both  there  and  here. 

In  addition  to  the  rich  inheritance  which  the 
twentieth  century  has  in  the  Churches  which  have 

278 


The  Twentieth  Century 

been  built  up  among  the  heathen  during  the 
nineteenth  century,  there  is  also  the  abundant 
Missionary  literature  to  which  the  new  era  has 
fallen  heir,  and  to  which  it  is  constantly  making 
such  worthy  additions.  There  is  what  may  be 
called  the  working  plant  of  the  Church  as  Mission- 
ary— the  translations,  dictionaries,  and  grammars, 
and  much  else  of  the  same  sort — which  has  come 
down  to  us  through  the  toil  of  the  most  self- 
efiacing  labourers  the  Church  has  ever  known. 

But  these  labours  have  been  as  fruitful  as  they 
have  been  self-forgetting ;  and  when  we  add  to 
them  the  momentum  which  is  now  derived  from 
the  vast  organisation  which  is  everywhere  at  work 
in  the  sacred  cause,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  it 
is  manifest  indeed  that  our  century  has  entered 
on  its  work  with  enormous  advantages  compared 
with  the  century  which  has  gone.  And  there  are 
also  the  literary  records  of  much  that  has  been 
achieved,  the  best  proofs  that  truth  is  stranger  than 
fiction,  the  noblest  apologia  of  the  faith  as  it  is  in 
Christ ;  these  might  well  inspire  our  generation  to 
hasten  to  complete  the  work,  and  to  share  in  it  ere 
there  is  no  more  such  work  to  be  done. 

There  are  not  only  the  classic  biographies,  such 
as  those  which  tell  of  Carey  and  Judson,  of 
Martyn  and  Heber,  of  John  Wilson  and  Duff,  of 
Williams  and  Livingstone ;  there  are  volumes  like 

2/9 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

Dr.  Lambert's  Romance  of  Missionary  Heroism, 
which  show  how  far  it  is  from  the  truth  to  suggest 
that  the  age  of  faith  or  heroism  is  over.  There 
is  no  need  to  patronise  sensational  and  unhealthy 
fiction  in  order  to  find  stirring  adventures  and 
thrilling  narratives,  when  such  books  have  been 
placed  at  the  disposal  of  young  and  old  alike 
as  Calvert's  Cannibals  and  Saints,  Mackay's 
From  Far  Formosa,  Miss  Taylor's  Pioneering  in 
Tibet,  Ashe's  Tivo  Kings  of  Uganda,  Thomson's 
TJirough  Masailand,  Gilmour's  Among  the 
Mongols,  Chamberlain's  The  Cobra's  Den,  Miss 
Wilson  Carmichael's  Overweights  of  Joy  and  Lotus 
Buds,  and  many  another  record  of  the  wonders 
wrought  by  the  knights  who  have  gone  out  to  do 
battle  with  all  evil  and  wrong  under  the  banner  of 
Christ  and  His  Cross. 

There  is,  however,  another  side  to  all  this.  There 
are  also  many  forces  which  are  bitterly  hostile,  as 
well  as  many  which,  without  being  actually  hostile, 
are  sapping  the  strength  of  the  Church  and 
weakening  its  enthusiasm  for  Missions ;  and  of 
these  some  are  quite  modern  and  new.  A  century 
ago,  for  example,  when  influences  of  a  negative  or 
destructive  kind  assailed  the  faith,  they  always 
operated  from  without ;  whereas  now  almost  all 
the  power  of  such  forces  arises  from  the  fact  that 
they  often  operate  from  within. 

280 


The  Twentieth  Century 

There  is,  for  instance,  the  effect  on  not  a  few  of 
what  is  called  the  Higher  Criticism,  which  was 
not  born  a  century  ago,  although  there  were 
anticipations  of  it.  No  one  can  assert  that  all  the 
criticism  which  has  been  indulged  in  within  recent 
years  from  witliin  the  citadel  has  been  either 
helpful  or  believing,  or  that  it  should  have  been 
offered  by  professed  friends.  We  must,  of  course, 
be  loyal  to  the  light  wherever  it  leads,  and 
welcome  truth  even  when  it  comes  in  unwonted 
ways ;  for  God  fulfils  Himself  in  many  ways. 
Nor  has  any  enterprise  less  cause  to  fear  the  light 
than  the  Mission  enterprise.  But,  owing  to  their 
instability  and  ignorance,  there  are  many  for 
whom  a  passage  in  the  Old  Testament  or  an 
incident  in  the  New  is  never  quite  the  same  after 
it  has  been  assailed,  no  matter  how  unwarrantably, 
by  a  Wellhausen  or  a  Schmiedel. 

There  is  only  too  much  cause  for  fearing  that 
in  many  subtle  ways,  especially  as  it  has  affected 
the  ill-informed,  for  whom  a  little  knowledge  is  a 
dangerous  thing,  the  Higher  Criticism  has  tended 
to  weaken  the  impulses  which  have  hitherto  in- 
spired some  of  the  best  Missionaries  the  Church 
has  had.  That  may  be  only  a  part  of  the  truth 
and  a  passing  phase  ;  but  it  can  hardly  be  ignored 
in  an  attempt  to  estimate  the  forces  which  are 
meanwhile   at   work   in   connection  with  Foreign 

281 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

Missions.  When  once  men  and  women  find  them- 
selves in  the  stream  of  tendency  which  flows  from 
an  incipient  dislike  of  the  supernatural — that  is, 
which  is  in  reality  rationalism  in  the  making  if 
it  does  its  perfect  work — they  must  either  sink 
or  swim  across.  It  is  not  possible  to  go  back  to 
mere  traditionalism  when  once  the  soul  has  been 
in  the  flood ;  and  only  too  many  who  find  them- 
selves in  these  depths  lose  their  hold  of  the  old 
without  getting  any  effective  grip  of  the  new,  and 
thereby  cease  for  the  time  being  to  be  of  any 
account  in  the  battle  of  life.  This  is  not  the 
place  for  attempting  an  estimate  of  the  merits 
and  demerits  of  the  modern  critical  movement ; 
but  that  it  has  an  unsettling  and  disconcerting 
tendency  for  some,  and  cannot  but  continue  to 
have  such  a  tendency  while  the  transition  stage 
lasts,  can  hardly  be  denied.  It  is  probable,  in- 
deed, that  no  one  would  question  this ;  and  for 
the  crowds  who  never  go  farther  than  this  un- 
settling stage  there  are  phases  of  criticism  which 
seem  to  rob  the  Word  of  God  of  its  supreme 
authority  and  of  its  Divine  fascination  and  power, 
a  loss  which  is  immeasurably  great.  That  they 
may  know  criticism  only  at  second  hand,  and  on 
its  negative  side  alone,  makes  the  loss  none  the  less 
real. 

Then  there  are  others  for  whom  the  rise  of  what 
282 


The  Twentieth  Century 

is  called  Comparative  Religion  lias  acted  directly 
or  indirectly  in  very  much  the  same  way.  It  does 
not  matter  that  it  ought  not  so  to  act,  or  that  the 
Missionary  enterprise  itself  has  more  than  anything 
else  rendered  this  study  inevitable,  and  has  pro- 
vided the  material  for  it.  The  fact  remains  that 
the  uniqueness  of  Scripture,  and  even  of  the 
Christian  religion,  has  vanished  for  not  a  few ; 
and  that  even  the  Gospel  of  the  grace  of  God  in 
Christ  has  come  to  be  thought  of  by  them  as  one 
way  out  of  many,  and  not  as  the  only  revelation 
of  the  one  living  Way  and  of  the  Name  which  is 
above  every  name.  They  lose  themselves  among 
the  Sacred  Books  of  the  East,  and  in  their  con- 
templation of  the  glories  of  Gautama  and  Con- 
fucius. It  makes  no  difterence,  apparently,  that 
the  more  we  know  of  its  rivals  the  more  does  the 
unique  glory  of  the  Gospel  appear.  There  are  so 
many  who  have  only  a  smattering,  or  even  a  reflec- 
tion of  a  smattering ;  and  for  such  the  fascination 
has  gone,  the  spell  has  been  broken,  the  truth  has 
lost  its  power,  when  once  they  have  embarked  on 
these  speculations  and  comparisons.  Even  those 
who  lecture  on  Comparative  Religion  from  the 
Christian  standpoint  have  sometimes  so  much  that 
is  good  to  say  about  the  great  pagan  systems  as 
to  leave  the  impression  that  the  supremacy  of  the 
Gospel  is  a  matter  of  degree  rather  than  of  kind. 

283 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

Missionaries  face  to  face  with  the  facts  have  another 
tale  to  tell. 

Nor  can  we  afford  to  ignore  the  fact  that  the 
Higher  Criticism  and  Comparative  Religion  affect 
many  who  know  nothing  whatever  about  them 
through  any  personal  study  or  knowledge.  They 
hear  the  shout  of  the  enemy  that  the  fortress 
has  fallen  ;  and  even  when  they  do  not  join  in 
the  cry,  they  conclude  that  the  great  verities  and 
realities  of  the  faith  are  at  least  open  questions, 
on  which  discussion  may  be  looked  for  and  widely 
differing  opinions  held.  They  hear  about  myths, 
interpolations,  anticipations,  tendencies,  and  much 
else,  until  they  cannot  but  drift  unless  their  feet 
are  actually  on  the  Rock  of  Ages,  and  they  have 
had  personal  transactions  with  Christ  Himself. 
Not  only  so,  but  these  and  kindred  studies  have 
begotten  an  attitude  to  revealed  truth  which  has 
found  its  way  into  the  magazines  and  newspapers  ; 
and  although  the  stream  of  tendency  which  trickles 
down  to  the  general  public  may  become  very  much 
attenuated,  it  works  all  the  more  mischief  that  it 
comes  without  anything  of  the  nature  of  the 
corrective  which  fuller  knowledge  would  bring. 

Even  for  those  who  resent  the  tone  of  much 
modern  writing  as  irreverent  and  unworthy,  it 
lowers  the  temperature  and  sends  a  paralysing  chill 
to  their  hearts  which  is  the  sworn  foe  of  Mission 

284 


The  Twentieth  Century 

euthusiasm.  "Cold  is  the  malady  of  the  soul," 
says  Comte ;  and  many  who  have  no  notion  how 
the  cold  blasts  have  come,  and  no  sympathy  with 
them,  are  suffering  from  chill  in  their  souls  because 
of  the  icebergs  of  criticism  and  doubt  which  have 
floated  into  their  zone.  In  the  spirit  as  in  the 
body,  many  of  the  deadliest  maladies  begin  with 
a  cold. 

It  is  also  probable  that  among  the  weakening  in- 
fluences which  are  at  work  sapping  the  enthusiasm 
for  Missions  of  many  in  this  twentieth  century 
not  the  least  mischievous  is  the  change,  intangible 
but  intensely  persistent  and  real,  which  has  passed 
over  the  minds  of  so  many  in  connection  with 
the  belief  in  eternal  punishment.  The  spirit  of 
Tennyson's  dream — 

"But  yet  we  trust  that  somehow  good 
Will  be  the  final  goal  of  ill; 

That  nothing  walks  Avith  aimless  feet ; 

That  not  one  life  shall  be  destroyed, 

Or  cast  as  rubbish  to  the  void, 
"When  God  has  made  the  pile  complete," 

has  aff'ected  very  many  who  would  probably 
repudiate  the  suggestion.  This  at  any  rate  is 
indisputable,  that  whether  men  now  believe  in 
eternal  punishment  or  not,  the  preachers  of  our 
time,  and  even  our  evangelists,  have  ceased  to  pro- 
claim it  as  it  was  once  proclaimed ;  that  the  fear 

285 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

of  it  lias  faded  out  of  the  popular  belief  and  im- 
agination with  startling  rapidity  during  the  last 
quarter  of  a  century ;  and  that  this  change  has 
brought  other  changes  with  it. 

It  is,  of  course,  quite  impossible  to  tell  how  far 
those  who  have  gone  forth  into  the  heathen  dark- 
ness, with  the  torch  of  Christian  truth  in  their 
hands,  were  driven  forth  by  their  belief  in  the 
eternal  doom  of  those  who  die  in  their  sins,  and  by 
their  yearning  to  tell  them  of  a  Deliverer.  Yet  it 
is  obvious  that  it  must  have  had  a  place  along  with 
other  motives ;  and  with  some  it  does  seem  to 
have  been  the  determining  motive.  It  is  equally 
impossible  to  tell  how  far  men  and  women  will 
continue  to  go  forth  in  large  numbers  if  they  are 
convinced  that,  in  taking  the  Gospel  to  the  heathen, 
with  the  likelihood  of  blessing  some,  there  is 
the  fearful  risk  of  worsening  the  state  of  others 
who  may  reject  the  message  they  deliver.  But  it 
is  more  than  likely  that  the  crude,  indefinite,  hazy, 
and  even  cowardly  conceptions  about  doom  which 
are  shutting  the  mouths  of  so  many  at  home  are 
weakening  the  hands  and  slackening  the  zeal  of 
some  who  would  otherwise  have  been  Foreign 
Missionaries,  and  it  may  even  be  of  some  who  are 
out  at  the  front  and  in  the  very  firing  line. 

The  nobler  the  work,  and  the  more  spiritual  the 
ties,  the  more  sensitive  are  they  to  any  such  subtle 

286 


The  Twentieth  Century 

change  as  this.  And  there  is  nothing  in  regard  to 
which  guidance  from  Word  and  Spirit  should  be 
sought  for  more  earnestly  and  persistently  in  this 
connection  than  that  Christian  men  and  women 
may  everywhere  know  the  truth  regarding  this 
terribly  solemn  and  difficult  theme,  in  such  a  fashion 
that  they  will  be  able  to  feel  strongly  and  speak 
convincingly  about  the  fearful  doom  of  moral  evil ; 
of  the  fearful  cursing,  corroding,  destroying  power 
of  sin  wherever  it  manifests  itself,  whether  in 
Christian  lands  or  far  away  in  heathen  darkness 
and  unbelief. 

The  end  of  these  things  is  death,  and  cannot  but 
be  death.  Sin  when  it  is  finished  bringeth  forth 
death ;  yet  meanwhile  only  too  many  are  silent 
about  these  dread  facts,  after  a  fashion  which  can 
only  work  woe.  The  fear  of  hell  may  be  nothing 
higher  than  a  "  hangman's  whip  to  baud  the  wretch 
in  order " ;  but  there  are  so  many  wretches  who 
must  be  kept  in  order,  that  the  whip  cannot  be  dis- 
pensed with.  It  must  either  be  brought  into  use 
again,  or  some  adequate  substitute  found  for  it. 
The  whole  truth  of  God's  Word  must  be  ascertained 
and  faithfully  proclaimed,  no  matter  what  the  con- 
sequences are,  or  all  Mission  work  will  sufi'er  alike 
at  home  and  abroad. 

In  addition  to  these  more  or  less  doctrinal  hostile 
influences,  which  are  meanwhile  at  work  in  opposi- 

287 


The  Call   of  the  New  Era 

tion  to  the  spirit  which  sends  labourers  into  the 
vineyard,  a  place  must  also  be  found  for  the  pre- 
dominance of  the  material — the  love  of  comfort, 
pleasure,  and  ease,  and  the  keen  appreciation  of 
what  money  brings,  which  mean  so  much  in 
modern  life,  and  nowhere  more  than  in  the  Church, 
official  and  unofficial.  It  is,  indeed,  in  connection 
with  Mission  work  alone  that  the  heroic  any  longer 
survives  to  any  appreciable  extent  even  in  this 
new  era,  with  all  its  unique  calls  to  action.  Even 
in  trade  and  commerce  it  is  becoming  increasingly 
difficult  to  find  those  who  are  willing  to  endure 
hardness,  or  to  burn  the  midnight  oil ;  while  in 
learning  and  research  fewer  than  ever  are  to  be 
found  who  are  ready  to  face  privation  and  danger 
in  search  of  knowledge. 

Beyond  any  cavil,  one  of  the  menaces  of  the 
twentieth  century  is  the  spirit  of  materialism,  which 
has  crept  so  subtly  into  much  of  our  modern 
life  and  thought,  and  which  is  affecting  our 
generation  so  adversely  and  in  so  many  ways 
through  the  weakening  or  the  destruction  of  the 
ideals  set  before  young  and  old  alike.  Multitudes 
no  longer  believe  in  anything  which  they  cannot 
cut  with  a  dissecting  knife  or  see  through  a  glass. 
Many  even  of  those  who  are  seeking  for  the  good 
refuse  to  seek  for  the  best ;  and  thus  the  very  good 
which  is  the  glory  of  our  era,  its  richest  inheritance 

288 


The  Twentieth  Century 

from  the  days  which  are  gone — its  inventions,  and 
its  sensitiveness  to  injustice  or  need  or  wrongs, 
and  its  yearning  to  secure  comfort  for  all — is  made 
the  enemy  of  that  best  which  still  lies  in  front, 
that  golden  age  which  is  still  calling  the  faithful 
and  courageous  to  further  quest. 

At  the  present  time  the  primary  need  of  the 
Foreign  Mission  field  is  not  money  alone,  as  so 
many  suppose,  but  men  and  women.  Not  long  since, 
even  for  Manchuria,  where  the  tide  of  blessing  has 
been  flowing  deep  and  broad,  and  in  spite  of  the 
Student  Volunteer  Movement  and  much  else  of  the 
same  sort,  both  doctors  and  teachers  were  being 
appealed  for  in  vain.  An  eminent  Missionary 
from  China  recently  visited  several  colleges  in 
Scotland,  seeking  men  to  go  out  as  ordained 
ministers,  and  did  so  in  vain,  although  adequate 
salaries  were  already  in  hand.  This  phase  will  doubt- 
less soon  pass  away ;  and  even  now  it  is  probable 
that  a  "  labour  exchange "  or  a  "  Mission  clearing 
house"  would  put  matters  right.  The  likelihood 
is  that  there  were  never  more  workers  willing  to  go 
abroad  than  there  are  now,  taking  the  field  as  a 
whole ;  but  even  as  a  temporary  or  local  phase  of 
the  situation,  it  is  disconcerting  to  find  such  a  state 
of  afiairs,  and  it  seems  to  be  only  too  manifest 
that  the  materialistic  spirit  is  very  far-reaching  in 
its  operations,  and  that  it  can  assail  the  best.  It 
N.E.— 19  289 


The  Call   of  the  New  Era 

is,  indeed,  to  perfected  organisation,  rather  than  to 
any  conspicuous  self-surrender  or  heroism,  that  the 
Church  must  meanwhile  look  for  her  workers  in  any 
sphere ;  but  as  she  does  this  duty  which  is  nearest 
to  her,  the  way  to  the  heights  will  assuredly  open 
up  once  again  with  all  its  holy  fascination  and  its 
irresistible  appeal. 

And  all  this  only  makes  the  fundamental  thesis 
clearer  and  clearer  that  the  work  at  home  and  the 
work  abroad  are  not  two,  but  one  ;  and  that  the  two 
sides  of  the  one  whole  must  stand  or  fall  together. 
Everything  is  hardest  for  the  man  who  is  down, 
and  every  difficulty  is  accentuated  for  the  Church 
when  the  temperature  falls  as  it  has  fallen  now. 
Every  evil  microbe  gets  its  opportunity  when 
vitality  is  low ;  but  loyal  obedience  all  round  the 
circle  of  the  world's  need  would  soon  put  doubts 
and  fears  to  flight.  Obedience  to  the  call  of  the 
new  era,  with  all  its  possibilities  of  weal  or  woe, 
would  speedily  bring  that  fuller  light  in  which 
the  Church  would  see  clearly  and  find  perfect 
peace  in  the  service  of  her  Lord.  Nothing  less 
than  such  obedience,  however,  can  scatter  the 
clouds  of  materialism,  put  the  mists  of  worldli- 
ness  and  unbelief  to  flight,  and  bring  the  fuller 
revelation  of  the  grace  and  power  of  God.  God 
must  have  a  willing  people  in  the  day  of  His 
power. 

290 


The  Twentieth  Century 

In  thus  trying  to  detail  and  describe  the  forces 
which  are  against  world-evangelisation  as  well  as 
those  which  are  in  favour  of  it,  there  is,  of  course, 
no  suggestion  that  the  forces  which  are  hostile  are 
worthy  to  be  compared  with  those  which  are 
friendly  to  the  work  of  spreading  the  Light.  It  is 
not  possible  to  measure  forces  of  that  sort  in  such 
a  fashion  as  to  be  able  to  estimate  their  relative 
influence.  There  is  no  common  denominator. 
Majorities  do  not  count  in  the  realm  of  the  spirit ; 
nor  can  averages  be  struck  in  dealing  with  spiritual 
forces  either  for  or  against.  Yet  it  is  necessary 
that  Christians  be  on  their  guard  lest  they  despise 
the  foe ;  and  it  must  be  clearly  understood  that 
while  this  generation  engages  in  the  work  of 
winning  the  world  for  Christ,  on  terms  vastly  more 
favourable  than  those  on  which  our  grandfathers 
entered  on  it,  there  has  been  loss  as  well  as  gain 
in  the  enormous  changes  which  have  taken  place  in 
so  many  spheres. 

As  an  instance,  however,  of  the  difficulty  of 
opening  any  exact  profit  and  loss  account  in  this 
realm,  it  must  not  be  overlooked  that  the  modern 
critical  spirit,  which  can  take  nothing  for  granted, 
and  has  thrown  into  the  melting  pot  so  many 
things  which  used  to  be  taken  for  granted,  has  on 
its  destructive  side  been  even  busier  in  the  foreign 
field   than    at   home    and   that   it   has    been  dis- 

291 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

integrating  many  of  the  forces  which  once  were 
mightiest  on  behalf  of  paganism. 

In  India,  for  example,  the  outcome  of  the 
advance  of  Western  science  and  the  spread  of  the 
Western  spirit  has  been  that,  consciously  or  un- 
consciously, the  educated  classes  no  longer  believe 
in  the  old  cosmogonies,  and  that  much  else  has 
gone  out  of  the  faith  of  the  multitudes  which  was 
altogether  vital.  Many  may  still  be  as  Samson 
was  when  he  wist  not  that  the  Lord  was  departed 
from  him  ;  but  the  realities  have  disappeared,  only 
the  forms  remain,  and  nothing  can  be  again  as  it 
was  in  the  past.  Rays  of  emancipating  light  are 
even  stealing  into  the  darkened  zenanas,  the  last 
strongholds  of  the  old  faiths.  The  attempts  which 
are  being  made  to  reform  and  reconstruct  Hinduism 
and  Mohammedanism  in  India  show  how  conscious 
some  are  of  the  change  which  has  taken  place,  and 
of  the  impossibility  of  maintaining  the  status  quo. 

And  it  has  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  much  if  not 
most  of  this  disillusionment — for  it  is  nothing  more 
as  yet — has  come  under  the  auspices  of  a  science 
which  is  taught  by  those  who  are  frankly  non- 
religious.  The  Christian  Missionary  has  often  to 
pull  down  the  ancient  edifices  of  faith,  but  he  does 
so  that  he  may  build  up  again.  He  has  no 
pleasure  in  destruction  for  its  own  sake ;  and  very 
often  he  destroys  by  first  of  all  building  up,  so  that 

292 


The  Twentieth  Century 

the  new  is  there  before  the  old  departs — like  the 
new  leaves  on  the  beech  hedge  in  spring  which 
push  their  predecessors  off.  But  it  has  been  far 
otherwise  with  many  of  the  teachers  of  modern 
India.  Their  learning  is  godless.  Their  work  is 
wholly  negative,  so  far  as  religion  is  concerned,  and 
sometimes  it  has  been  even  malignantly  so.  There 
have  been  Europeans  who  have  done  their  best  to 
indoctrinate  the  educated  Indians  with  the  vileness 
of  the  basest  in  the  home  countries  ;  but  even  where 
that  was  not  the  case,  many  of  India's  teachers 
have  ignored  the  fact  that  man  was  made  for  God, 
and  have  nothing  for  the  empty  yearning  hearts 
which  they  profess  to  guide.  Hence  the  present  rest- 
lessness, which  is  full  of  danger  if  it  is  also  full  of 
the  possibilities  of  endless  advance,  and  the  dangers 
can  only  be  averted  by  the  immediate  response  of 
the  Churches  to  the  blessed  possibilities. 

In  China,  too,  the  modern  spirit  is  working 
extraordinary  changes ;  and,  especially  in  connec- 
tion with  education,  a  situation  has  been  created 
which  would  have  been  incredible  only  a  year  or 
two  ago.  It  is  indeed  difficult  for  any  but  those 
who  are  experts,  or  are  on  the  spot,  to  realise  how 
swiftly  changes  of  infinite  moment  are  taking  place 
in  that  great  Empire  and  among  that  deeply 
interesting  people,  for  whom  all  who  labour  among 
them  seem  to  have  such  an  affection.     If  education 

293 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

is  not  already  universal  and  compulsory,  it  would 
appear  to  be  from  the  lack  of  teachers  rather  than 
from  any  lack  of  desire  on  the  part  of  the  rulers. 
It  is  true  that  meanwhile  they  wish  education  for 
purely  utilitarian  ends,  and  in  order  that  China  may 
acquire  the  military,  naval,  and  financial  learning 
of  the  AYest,  and  may  no  longer  be  the  prey  of  the 
Western  nations.  But  even  so  it  is  more  than 
probable  that  the  present  generation  will  see 
repeated  in  China  the  phenomenal  transformation 
which  the  last  generation  saw  coming  over  Japan ; 
and  if  only  the  image  and  superscription  of  Christ 
can  be  put  on  her  education  while  China  is  still 
plastic  and  in  the  making,  the  gain  to  humanity 
will  be  incredibly  great. 

In  spite  of  all  that  has  been  said  at  Conventions 
and  elsewhere  about  this,  it  does  not  seem  to  be 
sufficiently  understood  yet.  If  it  were,  there 
would  be  awe  in  every  faithful  heart.  Never  in 
the  history  of  mankind  were  such  vast  numbers  of 
people  undergoing  such  radical  changes  as  now  in 
the  Far  East ;  and  the  call  of  the  new  era  is  there, 
sounding  very  loud  and  clear  for  all  who  have  ears 
to  hear  and  hearts  to  understand.  The  old  phrases 
about  the  unchanging  East,  the  immemorial  East, 
the  inherent  conservatism  of  the  East,  will  soon 
have  no  meaning ;  and  those  who  truly  know  the 
Lord  can  never  hesitate  as  to  what  China  needs 

294 


The  Twentieth  Century 

most  of  all  and  first  of  all.  Those,  too,  who  know 
the  two  peoples  at  first  hand  all  seem  to  put  the 
Chinese  before  the  Japanese  as  a  people  of  infinite 
possibilities  and  notable  qualities,  and  to  cherish  the 
most  wonderful  expectations  as  to  how  far  they 
may  go  if  only  they  find  the  true  Lord. 

As  to  what  may  happen  if  China's  regeneration 
as  an  Empire  comes  under  other  auspices  than  the 
Christian,  that  is  a  matter  for  the  Governments  as 
well  as  the  Churches.  The  Yellow  Peril  might 
then  become  a  peril  indeed,  and  China  has  many 
accounts  to  square  with  the  Western  peoples  which 
might  all  be  squared  then  with  compound  interest. 
The  possibilities  are  weirdly  striking,  and  the 
yearning  of  every  believing  soul  must  be  that  this 
nation  which  is  being  born  in  a  day  may  soon 
come  under  the  spell  of  Christ ;  and  it  can  only  do 
so  if  the  Christian  Church  everywhere  responds  to 
the  Divine  summons  which  is  coming  in  a  fashion 
so  impressive  and  so  momentous. 

In  the  nearer  East,  too,  as  has  been  already  seen, 
there  is  a  stirring  among  the  Mohammedans  which 
cannot  but  spread.  The  imperturbable  Turks,  the 
apparently  impenetrable  Moors,  and  the  hopeless 
Persians  are  all  alike  undergoing  epoch-making 
changes,  so  that  they  can  never  again  be  as  they 
were ;  and  with  political  changes  so  far-reaching, 
there  cannot  but   come  a  renaissance  which  will 

295 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

affect  their  theological  and  religious  outlook. 
Already  in  India  the  movement  has  taken  shape 
in  an  attempt  to  remove  the  most  obvious  ex- 
crescences of  Islam  ;  and  the  strivings  for  political 
liberty  in  Morocco,  Persia,  Turkey,  and  Egypt, 
cannot  end  there.  A  man  is  not  many  but  one, 
and  real  freedom  will  soon  tell  all  round. 

One  of  the  most  noteworthy  proofs  of  the  new 
spirit  which  has  entered  Islam  is  the  great  Mission- 
ary efforts  which  are  being  made  to  win  converts 
for  Mohammed  from  other  religions.  It  is  said, 
and  it  may  be  correct,  that  just  now  the  religion 
of  the  False  Prophet  is  gaining  more  converts  from 
the  most  degraded  tribes  in  Central  Africa,  than 
the  religion  of  the  True  Prophet  is  winning  from 
all  sources  whatsoever.  Not  only  Christian  Mission- 
aries in  the  Soudan  and  elsewhere,  but  statesmen, 
like  Sir  Reginald  Wingate,  the  Sirdar  of  the  Eastern 
Soudan,  are  warning  the  Churches  that  Moham- 
medanism will  win  in  the  race  for  the  African 
tribes  which  have  not  yet  made  their  choice,  unless 
many  more  labourers  are  sent  forth  at  once  into 
that  corner  of  the  vineyard.  And  where  men  do 
not  know  about  Christ,  it  cannot  but  appear  to 
be  an  actual  uplift  to  become  followers  of  Islam, 
and  to  know  about  Allah,  the  one  God,  even 
through  that  corrupted  channel. 

The  Professor  of  Arabic  at  Cambridge  has  asserted 
296 


The  Twentieth  Century 

that  ODe  reason  wliy  Mohammedanism  is  mean- 
while gaining  more  converts  in  Africa  than  Christ 
is  that  converts  to  Islam,  no  matter  to  what 
race  they  belong,  are  on  the  whole  admitted 
freely  and  ungrudgingly  to  the  social  privileges,  as 
well  as  to  the  obligations  of  the  community  with 
which  they  have  cast  in  their  lot ;  and  that  the 
same  affirmation  cannot  be  made  regarding  subject 
races  which  have  become  Christian.  If  that  be  so, 
we  must  not  be  above  learning  from  the  enemies 
of  the  truth.  They  have  clearly  been  learning 
from  us,  for  it  is  of  the  very  essence  of  the  Gospel 
to  bring  its  converts  in  by  the  front  door.  They 
themselves  may  be  willing  to  take  the  servant's 
place,  but  they  are  received  as  sons  and  daughters. 
The  Father's  response  to  the  cry  of  their  penitence 
and  humiliation  ever  is  :  "  Bring  forth  the  best  robe 
and  put  it  on  him,  and  put  a  ring  on  his  hand  and 
shoes  on  his  feet "  ;  and  that  must  also  be  the  spirit 
of  the  Church's  welcome  too.  But  the  point  for 
us  meanwhile  is,  that  the  twentieth-century  spirit 
of  yearning  for  reform,  which  is  so  active  at  home 
and  among  the  great  Eastern  peoples,  is  also  at 
work  along  several  lines  among  the  Mohammedan 
peoples  all  over  the  world. 

In  these  circumstances,  it  is  manifest  that  the 
outstanding  feature  of  the  Foreign  Mission  situation 
in  this  first  decade  of  the  twentieth  century  is  its 

297 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

extreme  urgency.  A  tide  has  come  in  the  affairs 
of  the  world  and  the  Church  which  must  be  taken 
at  the  flood,  unless  there  is  to  be  declension  and 
decay.  Now  is  the  judgment  of  this  world  ;  and  at 
such  a  crisis  the  doom  of  disloyalty  to  the  Divine 
call  can  only  be  estimated  by  the  blessedness  which 
obedience  would  assuredly  bring.  The  twentieth 
century  may  prove  to  be  the  crowning  epoch  in 
the  history  of  the  Kingdom  of  God,  and  cannot  but 
be  so  if  the  followers  of  Christ  are  equal  to  the  call 
which  the  new  era  has  brought.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  it  may  prove  to  be  one  of  the  darkest  in 
history  if  there  be  failure  and  betrayal  of  sacred 
trusts  and  holy  interests. 

Two  authorities,  one  representing  the  older 
generation  and  one  representing  the  new,  have 
spoken  lately  on  this  aspect  of  the  situation,  and 
their  testimony  is  final  as  to  the  supreme  urgency 
of  the  appeal  which  is  coming  from  every  part  of 
the  earth.  Warneck,  of  Halle,  is  now  a  veteran 
in  this  department  of  knowledge,  and  his  testimony 
is  very  vivid  and  conclusive  :  "  Never  since  Christian 
Missions  began  have  such  world-wide  opportunities 
been  given  for  the  extension  of  Christianity  as  recent 
years  have  brought.  From  South  and  East  and 
West  the  ways  have  been  opened  up  deep  into  the 
interior  of  Africa  for  the  messengers  of  the  Gospel ; 
Japan    seeks   a   new    religion ;  the  Chinese   giant 

298 


The  Twentieth  Century 

has  awaked  out  of  his  sleep  of  centuries,  and  is 
thirsting  for  Western  culture ;  through  Korea 
a  mighty  Christian  movement  is  passing  like 
a  spring  storm  ;  and  in  India  there  is  beginning  a 
striving  for  national  independence  such  as  did  not 
exist  before — Divine  signals  in  the  history  of  the 
world  that  the  time  is  fulfilled  for  great  Mission- 
ary action. 

"  The  older  Missions,  too,  in  which  the  formation 
of  native  Churches  is  already  in  process,  and  through 
which  there  is  passing  a  more  or  less  earnest  seek- 
ing of  ecclesiastical  independence,  are  presenting 
new  tasks  in  respect  of  organisation  and  education 
of  the  most  far-reachino;  sig:nificance  :  tasks  which 
include  all  manner  of  reforms  with  regard  to  the 
training  of  Missionaries  and  the  administration  of 
Missionary  directorates. 

"  Finally,  where  there  are  open  doors  there  is  no 
lack  of  adversaries.  With  Missionary  opportunities 
are  associated  Missionary  dangers,  and  victory  can 
only  be  won  through  conflict.  In  Eastern  Asia, 
where  now  the  hottest  battle  will  be  joined,  on  the 
one  hand  the  influence  of  an  irreligious  Western 
science  threatens  with  moral  chaos  the  nations  rooted 
in  their  traditional  heathen  view  of  the  world ; 
and  on  the  other  hand,  the  older  cultured  religions, 
idealised  and  almost  transfigured  with  flattery  by 
European    scholars,    threaten    Missions   with   new 

299 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

temptations  to  syncretist  formations.  The  striving 
for  ecclesiastical  independence  in  the  native  Chris- 
tian world,  while  gladdening  in  itself,  exposes — 
and  that  not  only  in  Africa — the  Church  to  dis- 
order, and  Christianity  to  the  danger  of  a  religious 
and  moral  relapse,  should  an  unwise  doctrinarianism 
grant  complete  independence  from  the  Missionary 
administration,  when  maturity  of  religious  and 
moral  experience  and  character  has  not  yet  been 
reached.  At  home,  too,  Missions  are  being  more 
and  more  drawn  into  the  great  theological  strife  of 
the  present  time,  and  a  Missionary  method  is  being 
recommended  of  a  different  order  in  its  motives  and 
tasks  and  aims,  which  places  in  doubt  the  absolut- 
ism as  well  as  the  universality  of  Christianity. 

"All  this  taken  together  shows  us  that  the 
present  great  Missionary  time  is  also  a  very  critical 
Missionary  time  :  that  it  demands  men  who  redeem 
the  present  great  Missionary  opportunities  with 
courageous  faith  and  a  resolution  ready  for  sacri- 
fice ;  who  will,  no  less  with  believing  loyalty  and 
the  wisdom  taught  by  the  Word  of  God,  overcome 
the  manifold  temptations  which  threaten  the  very 
life  of  Christianity  and  of  Missions.  It  is  ap- 
parently just  Missions  which  are  to  furnish  the 
touchstone  by  which  will  be  proved  the  different 
religious  value  of  the  old  Apostolic  Gospel  and  the 
new  humanistic  Christianity." 

300 


The  Twentieth  Century- 
Such  is  the  weighty  deliverance  and  manifesto 
of  one  who  in  his  old  age  is  still  young,  and 
looks  out  on  the  new  era  with  eyes  filled  with 
the  wisdom  of  God  and  the  fullest  experience  of 
the  past.  Nor  is  the  testimony  of  Mr.  Mott,  the 
General  Secretary  of  the  World's  Student  Christian 
Federation,  who  faces  the  problems  of  the  new  age 
with  all  the  ardour  of  consecrated  youth,  and  with 
eyes  filled  with  the  yearning  to  see  the  Gospel 
preached  to  all  mankind  before  they  close  in  death, 
any  less  impressive  and  far-reaching.  "  The  present 
urgency  and  crisis  in  the  extreme  Orient  is  un- 
matched by  any  other  crisis  and  opportunity  which 
has  confronted  the  Christian  Church.  It  involves 
the  destiny  of  nearly  500,000,000  of  people  of 
Japan,  Korea,  China,  Manchuria,  and  Mongolia. 
Among  these  millions  massed  around  the  Pacific 
Basin,  the  forces  of  youth  and  age,  of  radicalism 
and  conservatism,  of  growth  and  decay,  are  seeth- 
ing and  struggling  for  the  mastery.  What  religion 
shall  dominate  these  changing  peoples  ?  Or  shall 
it  be  no  religion  ? 

"It  is  a  time  of  supreme  crisis  in  the  Far  East, 
not  only  because  of  the  triumphs  of  Christianity 
and  the  desirability  of  pressing  the  advantages 
which  these  triumphs  afford,  but  also  because  of 
the  stupendous  changes  now  in  progress  in  that 
Far  Eastern  world,  especially  on  the  mainland  of 

301 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

Asia ;  and  the  great  desirability  of  Christianity 
bringing  its  full  influence  to  bear  while  the  con- 
ditions are  still  plastic.  ...  It  is  also  a  time  of 
supreme  crisis  in  the  Far  East  because  of  the 
rising  spirit  of  nationalism  and  of  race  patriotism. 

"  If  I  were  to  mention  another  reason  why  this 
is  a  time  of  supreme  crisis,  it  would  be  because  of 
the  grave  and  even  disastrous  reflex  influence  upon 
the  Church  in  the  West  of  failure  to  improve  the 
unparalleled  opjoortunity  in  the  East.  I  confess 
that  my  anxiety  is  not  lest  there  be  [not]  a  great 
awakening  in  the  East,  but  lest  there  may  not  be 
a  corresponding  awakening  of  the  Church  in  the 
West.  One  result  may  be  that  we  will  become 
callous  and  hardened,  and  unresponsive  to  the 
moving  of  the  living  Spirit."  Truly  the  call  of 
the  new  era  is  very  solemn  as  well  as  very  urgent, 
and  is  comins;  to  all  who  love  the  Christ. 

There  are  many  Mission  problems  which  arise 
out  of  the  history  which  has  thus  been  hurriedly 
traversed  in  order  that  we  might  get  the  race 
which  precedes  the  leap,  and  be  open  to  the  full 
impact  of  the  call  with  which  the  new  era  has 
come,  and  one  of  the  most  important  is  just  that 
to  which  Mr.  Mott  here  alludes — the  stran2;e 
processes  of  interaction  and  reaction  between  the 
home  and  foreign  fields  of  service  which  may  be 
seen  all  through.     How  manifest  the  Holy  Spirit 

^02 


The  Twentieth  Century 

has  made  it,  as  He  has  clothed  His  gracious 
purposes  in  historical  events,  that  these  are  not 
two  fields,  but  one ;  and  that  there  cannot  be  pros- 
perity in  either,  full  and  abiding,  unless  there  is 
loyalty  in  both.  To  go  no  farther  back  over  the 
ground  already  traversed,  who  can  doubt  that  the 
revivals  with  which  the  nineteenth  century  was 
blessed,  like  the  revival  with  which  it  began,  were 
largely  due  to  the  growth  of  obedience  to  the 
orders  of  the  King? 

On  the  other  hand,  it  may  very  fairly  be  argued 
that  the  loss  of  the  first  glow  of  Missionary 
enthusiasm  consequent  on  the  emergence,  neces- 
sary as  that  may  have  been,  of  organisation  and 
machinery,  led  in  no  small  degree  to  the  arrested 
development  of  the  work  at  home  which  so  many 
are  meanwhile  deploring.  The  reflex  influence  of 
Missions  on  the  Church's  life  must  obviously  be 
great ;  but  it  is  probable  that  the  reflex  influence 
of  Missions  on  the  Church's  doctrine  is  in  no  way 
less.  Again  and  again  new  light  has  been  thrown 
on  Scripture,  on  Old  Testament  predictions  and 
New  Testament  organisation,  by  events  in  the 
foreign  field.  And  when  the  Church  deals,  as  she 
ought  to  do,  with  the  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
on  some  such  scale  as  that  with  w^hich  she  has 
dealt  with  the  doctrines  of  the  Father  and  the  Son, 
nothing  will  be  of  greater  value  to  her  in  her 

303 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

quest  than  her  Mission   records.     We   know  the 
Spirit  in  His  works  of  grace  and  might. 

Those  who  are  led  Ijy  the  Spirit  of  God  can 
never  get  away  from  the  conviction  that  obedience 
to  the  great  Missionary  Commission — which  knows 
nothing  of  any  division  of  the  fields  into  home  and 
foreign,   as  if  Christ  were   divided,   or  as  if  the 
Eternal  Spirit  were  nearer  London  or  Edinburgh 
than  Tokio  or  Shanghai — is  the  constant  and  neces- 
sary condition  of  success  anywhere.     The  world  is 
but  one  parish,  and  the  Church  is  the  one  agency 
which  can  occupy  the  one  field.     A  living  home 
Church  is  essential  to  success  among  the  heathen, 
and  obedience  among  the  heathen  is  essential  to 
ffood  work  at  home.     It  has  been  said  that  a  man 
will  rise  no  higher  than  his  wife  will  let  him ;  and 
certainly  the  work  among  the  heathen  will  rise  no 
higher  than  the  workers  at  home  allow,  nor  will 
the  Church  at  home  ever  get  away  from  the  reflex 
influence  of  the  Church  in    the  regions  beyond. 
The  royal  road  to  universal  success  and  world-wide 
revival  is  a  hearty  response  to  the  appeal  of  the 
open  doors  and  the  empty  hearts  which  are  every- 
where crying  out  for  help  in  the  name  of  the  Lord. 
Obedience  brings  revival,  and  revival  brings  the 
power  to  obey  ;  and  thus  the  ever-widening  circles 
of  grace  spread  out,  and  ever  farther  out,  to  the 
ends  of  the  earth,  like  the  circles  on  the  surface  of 

304 


The  Twentieth  Century 

a  pool  wlien  a  stone  has  been  thrown  into  it.  If 
there  is  to  be  recovery  of  power,  there  must  be 
unity  and  prayer,  and  in  turn  nothing  will  make 
for  unity  and  prayer  like  the  recovery  of  power. 

It  may  even  be  that  the  waves  of  revival  which 
are  to  make  all  thins^s  new  at  home  and  to  deliver 
the  Church  from  heresy  and  indifference,  worldli- 
ness  and  unbelief,  will  come  homewards  from  the 
foreign  field.  That  would  be  one  other  of  the 
pathetic  ironies  of  history ;  and  there  are  many  such, 
for  God  fulfils  Himself  in  many  ways.  "  The  wind 
bloweth  where  it  listeth";  and  God  may  yet  rebuke 
the  pride  of  the  Church  of  the  white  man  by  send- 
ing quickening  and  fresh  revelation  through  the 
black  man,  or  the  yellow  man,  or  the  brown.  But 
even  so,  the  prayer  of  all  who  are  truly  in  sympathy 
with  the  gracious  purpose  of  salvation  will  be : 
"  Come,  Holy  Spirit,  come."  "  Come  directly,  or 
by  way  of  the  Far  East,  as  seemeth  good  to  Thee ; 
but  oh,  come,  and  come  quickly  ! " 


N.E.— 20  305 


CHAPTER  X 
THE   CALL  OF  THE  NEW  EEA 


307 


"  The  night  comelh,  when  no  man  can  work." — John  9.  4. 

"  There  ia  a  tide  in  the  affairs  of  men, 
Which,  taken  at  the  flood,  leads  on  to  fortune ; 
Omitted,  all  the  voyage  of  their  life 
Is  bound  in  shallows  and  in  miseries. 
On  such  a  full  sea  we  are  now  afloat ; 
And  we  must  take  the  current  when  it  serves, 
Or  lose  our  ventures." — Shakespeare. 

"One  God,  one  law,  one  element, 
And  one  far-off  divine  event. 
To  which  the  whole  creation  moves." — Tennyson. 

"  Nothing  great  was  ever  done  without  passion." — Diderot. 


308 


CHAPTER  X 
THE  CALL  OF  THE  NEW  ERA 

IT  has  already  been  insisted  on  that  the  supreme 
feature  of  this  call  is  its  urgency ;  but  it  is 
hardly  possible  to  lay  too  much  emphasis  on  this, 
or  to  reinforce  it  too  strongly.  In  a  quite  unique 
sense  this  is  the  psychological  moment  for  the 
Church  and  the  regions  beyond.  Unless  the 
Gospel  enters  by  the  opening  doors,  evil  spirits 
will  enter  in  to  be  the  allies  of  those  already  en- 
trenched, and  the  combination  may  be  a  menace 
even  to  the  Christianity  of  the  West,  as  well  as  to 
its  Governments.  The  pagan  deluge  from  the  Far 
East  may  yet  sweep  on  to  the  Nearer  East,  like 
the  deluge  from  Mecca  long  ago  ;  and  who  can  tell 
whether  there  will  be  another  Charles  Martel  to 
check  it  in  its  desolating  career,  or  where  the 
colour  line  might  be  drawn  ? 

It  is  probably  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  so  far 
as  China  is  concerned  the  next  ten  years  will 
decide  its  fate.     That  vast  Empire,  which  is  now 

309 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

awakening  so  marvellously  from  the  slumber  of  cen- 
turies, and  which  has  in  it  such  infinite  possibilities, 
cannot  remain  as  it  is  in  religion,  any  more  than 
in  politics  or  trade.  It  may  become  Christian, 
or  it  may  become  agnostic.  That  Western  civilisa- 
tion will  do  its  destructive  work  is  certain  ;  the 
only  question  is  whether  the  Gospel  will  also 
do  the  constructive  work  which  it  alone  can  do. 
There  is  no  lasting  advantage  in  covering  over 
red  heathenism  with  a  veneer  of  culture ;  and  in 
sheer  self-defence,  if  for  no  other  reason,  the 
Christians  of  the  Occident  should  do  their  utmost 
to  win  the  teeming  millions  of  China  for  Christ 
while  the  golden  moments  last. 

In  recent  years  as  many  as  15,000  Chinese 
students  have  been  in  Tokio  at  one  time ;  and 
no  fewer  than  1500  Japanese  teachers  are  now  at 
work  throughout  China.  There  are  probably  as 
many  as  1000  Chinese  students  in  attendance  at 
the  universities  of  Europe  and  America,  picked 
men,  who  will  go  back  with  a  message  to  them 
who  sent  them.  The  revolution  is  assured ;  the 
only  question  is  under  whose  banner  the  awakened 
peoples  are  to  move,  and  words  cannot  convey 
how  all-important  it  is  that  they  should  be  under 
Christian  influences  at  such  a  formative  time.  All 
else  depends  on  that. 

Nor  is  it  to  China  alone,  or  even  to  the  Far 
310 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

East  alone,  that  this  plea  of  urgency  applies. 
Those  who  are  entitled  to  speak  say  that,  away  on 
the  very  roof  of  the  world,  the  new  era,  the  psycho- 
logical moment,  has  come  also  for  the  long-isolated 
land  of  Tibet ;  while  among  the  semi  -  pagan 
peoples  of  South  America,  that  continent  which 
has  been  neglected  so  long,  under  the  grotesque 
misconception  that  it  was  already  Christianised, 
there  are  also  strivings  and  yearnings  which  are 
equally  full  of  promise  and  peril.  But,  indeed, 
that  would  seem  to  be  true  of  all  the  pagan  nations 
in  this  newest  of  new  eras.  It  seems  to  be  every- 
where as  it  was  in  Europe  on  the  eve  of  the 
Reformation  ;  and  vast  changes  are  impending  for 
weal  or  woe. 

As  set  forth  in  the  statement  of  the  aims  of  the 
1910  World's  Missionary  Conference  in  Edinburgh  : 
"  The  contact  of  the  East  and  the  West  is  giving 
rise  to  a  ferment  of  ideas  in  the  world  of  human 
thought.  It  is  hardly  possible  that  the  hoary 
civilisations  of  Asia  should  be  subjected  to  the 
inrush  of  new  ideas  without  an  intellectual  up- 
heaval comparable  to  the  movement  which  shook 
the  life  of  Europe  at  the  Renaissance,  and  possibly 
surpassing  it  in  the  far-reaching  influence  of  its 
effects.  Such  a  period  of  living  mental  activity  at 
once  affords  an  exceptional  opportunity  for  the 
rapid  spread  of  Christian  ideas,  and  constitutes  a 

311 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

peril  that  will  make  severe  demands  on  the  courage 
and  faith  of  the  Christian  Church.  Of  no  less 
significance,  from  the  Christian  point  of  view,  is 
the  wakening  of  a  new  national  spirit  among  non- 
Christian  peoples.  If  enlightened  and  quickened 
by  a  true  vision  of  Christ,  this  new  spirit  may  be 
the  means  of  regenerating  the  national  life  ;  while, 
on  the  other  hand,  if  Christ  should  seem  in  the 
eyes  of  these  peoples  to  be  Western  only,  it  may 
build  up  barriers  that  may  exclude  His  Gospel 
from  these  lands  for  centuries."  "  There  can  only 
be  one  issue,"  it  has  been  said  ;  "  the  strongest  life 
will  prevail." 

But  there  can  be  no  question  as  to  which  is  the 
strongest  life,  if  only  it  is  brought  to  bear  on  the 
situation  in  the  right  way.  "  What  East  London 
needs  is  Christianity,"  said  a  social  worker  once. 
"No,"  said  another;  "what  East  London  needs  is 
Christians."  And  he  was  right.  What  the  heathen 
peoples  need  is  Christians,  for  even  the  Gospel  must 
become  concrete  in  human  lives  before  it  can 
carry  everything  before  it ;  and  it  is  not  so  much 
Christianity  as  Christians  who  are  on  their  trial 
now,  and  who  can  doubt  what  their  response  would 
be  if  they  could  only  realise  what  the  actual  issues 
are  ?  When  continental  parliaments  have  voted 
any  question  urgent,  they  suspend  all  other  busi- 
ness until  it  has  been  dealt  with.     They  sit  die  in 

312 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

diem  until  it  lias  been  settled,  on    the   principle 
that  everything  else  must  wait. 

So  at  this  juncture  the  Church  and  the  State 
alike  should  vote  urgency  for  the  appeal  of  the 
new  era  and  the  awakening  lands,  yielding  to  its 
summons  or  lure,  and  claim  all  its  possibilities  for 
Christ  in  that  Divine  strength  which  the  making 
of  such  a  claim  never  fails  to  bring  with  it.  Even 
as  Cato  had  it  in  the  Roman  Senate  at  all  times 
and  seasons,  ^' Delenda  est  Carthago" — Carthage 
must  be  destroyed — so  the  Christian  patriot  should 
have  it  in  season  and  out  of  season  :  "  The  heathen 
must  be  won  for  Christ";  "Christ  must  be  the 
Leader  of  the  new  nations,  the  supreme  Hero  of 
the  new  era."  It  mattered  not  what  else  Rome 
did  so  long  as  her  cruel  and  remorseless  foe  was 
not  crushed ;  and  unless  the  Gospel  can  use  this 
new  opportunity,  and  prove  itself  Divine  in  this 
ordeal  of  the  nations,  nothing  else  the  Church  may 
do  in  theology  or  social  enterprise  will  long  avail. 
It  may  even  be  now  or  never  so  far  as  this  era 
is  concerned,  and  not  a  few  think  it  may  be  the 
last  era.  And  whether  that  be  so  or  not,  it  is 
certain  that  we  have  come  once  again  to  a  flood- 
tide  in  the  affairs  of  men  ;  to  one  of  the  formative 
periods  or  water-sheds  in  history,  to  a  supremely 
critical  era,  which  must  be  a  savour  either  of  life 
unto  life  or  of  death  unto  death. 

313 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

Decisions  made  at  such  an  epoch  liave  a  sadly- 
weird  permanence  which  is  all  their  own — ^just  as 
no  nation  is  Protestant  now  which  stood  for 
obscurantism  and  privilege  after  the  first  shock 
of  the  Keformation  conflict  was  over.  After 
Niagara  is  passed,  the  stream  may  soon  seem  to 
flow  as  peaceably  as  it  did  before  it  was  caught  in 
the  mad  swirl  of  the  flood ;  but  in  reality  it  can 
never  be  quite  the  same  after  it  has  gone  down  the 
falls. 

But,  further,  this  new  era  comes  with  a  call  to 
the  whole  Church  to  avail  herself  of  all  the  inven- 
tions, discoveries,  and  political  changes  which  have 
thrown  the  world  open  to  the  Missionary  as  it 
never  was  before.  All  these  must  be  claimed  and 
occupied  for  Christ  and  His  service.  How  small 
the  Mission  world  has  recently  become,  and  how 
manageable,  compared  with  what  it  used  to  be ! 
Yet  at  the  same  time,  how  large  it  has  become  all 
at  once  !  There  are  so  many  open  doors  now  that 
men  have  ceased  to  remark  about  them.  Indeed, 
all  the  doors  are  open  now ;  hermit  nations  and 
walled-in  lands  no  longer  exist  in  the  old  sense. 
Think,  too,  of  how  difl^erent  a  voyage  to  the  East  is 
in  our  day,  with  swift  and  well-appointed  liners, 
compared  with  what  it  meant  for  Ziegenbalg  or 
even  for  Duff".  Think  also  of  what  steam  and 
electricity  have  done  to  render  for  ever  impossible 

314 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

the  terrible  isolation  into  which  Livingstone  and 
even  Paton  entered  when  they  passed  beyond  the 
zone  of  civilisation  and  entered  the  heathen  wilds. 
A  Missionary  from  Great  Britain  at  work  in  Man- 
churia is  now"  not  a  month  apart  from  his  friends 
at  home,  and  may  be  said  to  be  in  continuous 
touch  with  them. 

The  ends  of  the  earth  have  come  on  us,  and  ere 
long  the  aeroplane  may  join  hands  with  wireless 
telegraphy,  as  another  Divine  agent  for  the  con- 
quest of  space  and  for  the  advancement  of  Christ's 
Kingdom  in  the  regions  beyond.  And  every 
modern  invention  ought  to  be  consecrated  to  the 
highest  of  all  ends  and  made  use  of  in  the  service 
of  Christ.  "  From  Him  all  skill  and  science  flow  " ; 
and  it  is  part  of  the  charm  of  the  new  era,  just  as 
it  is  one  of  the  reasons  why  there  is  a  new  era  at 
all,  that  so  many  new  forces  are  ofi'ering  themselves 
that  they  may  be  harnessed  to  the  Saviour's  car. 
The  Bible  Societies  and  the  Societies  for  the  spread 
of  Christian  literature  in  the  vernacular  through- 
out the  difi'erent  lands  must  be  strengthened  and 
developed  with  all  the  resources  of  civilisation. 

The  enemy  is  using  the  printing  press  to  flood 
lands  like  India  and  Japan  with  the  worst  pro- 
ducts of  Western  infidelity  and  hatred  of  Christ ; 
and  the  children  of  the  Most  High  must  be  as 
ingenious   and  original   as   their  foes   in  making 

315 


The  Call  of  the   New  Era 

use  of  every  agency  to  spread  the  knowledge  of 
salvation  through  Christ.  Even  as  Paul  did,  when 
Christ  was  preached  through  envy  and  strife,  let 
us  rejoice  in  everything  which  makes  Him  and 
His  unique  claims  and  gifts  available  for  those 
who  are  ignorant  of  Him  and  His  grace. 

Those  must  be  deaf  indeed  who  do  not  hear  in 
all  the  social  and  political  changes  which  have 
been  taking  place  throughout  heathendom,  alike 
amid  the  nations  with  ancient  civilisations  and 
the  tribes  which  are  still  savage,  an  imperative 
summons  to  enter  in  and  make  disciples  of  all 
these  peoples  in  obedience  to  the  Lord's  command. 
Tlie  separating  walls  are  crumbling  to  the  dust. 
"  Come  over  and  help  us,"  is  the  cry  which  is  being 
borne  on  every  wind,  and  may  be  heard  in  a 
multitude  of  tongues.  Nor  is  it  in  any  sense  an 
indefinite  call,  although  it  has  been  so  often  slurred 
over  as  if  it  were.  It  is  being  expounded  by  a 
myriad  of  commentators  for  all  who  have  eyes  to 
read  and  hearts  to  understand.  It  is  as  clear  and 
binding  as  any  other  command  in  the  Word  of 
truth.  It  is  not  for  the  elite  alone,  but  for  all 
who  love  the  Lord  Jesus  and  can  tell  in  any  way 
what  He  has  done  for  them.  It  can  be  truly  and 
effectively  obeyed  by  all  who  wish  to  do  His  will. 

Only  some,  of  course,  can  obey  it  literally  and 
go  out  to  foreign  lands.     But  far  more  might  obey 

316 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

it  literally  than  do  so,  and  even  those  who  remain 
at  home  can  and  ought  to  obey  it  too.  There  are 
still  many  in  the  homelands  who  are  not  disciples ; 
and  the  Christian  call,  as  at  first  was  the  Christian 
practice,  is  to  be  a  Missionary  wherever  one  finds 
oneself.  Then,  as  regards  the  work  abroad,  those 
who  must  stay  at  home  can  not  only  attend  to  the 
commissariat,  and  hold  up  the  hands  of  their 
delegates  and  representatives  at  the  front  by  their 
sympathetic,  intelligent  interest  and  their  unceas- 
ing prayers ;  they  can  assail  the  same  paganism  as 
their  comrades  abroad. 

Just  like  Mission  work,  paganism  is  one  ;  and 
paganism  in  Britain  is  not  essentially  diff'erent 
from  paganism  in  Japan.  Nor  is  there  any  land 
where  primaeval  paganism  has  ever  been  quite  extir- 
pated, nor  any  land  where  it  may  not  again  lift  up 
its  defiant  head  as  the  very  Antichrist  whom  Christ 
must  yet  put  under  His  feet.  As  we  have  seen  in 
connection  with  the  work  in  the  Middle  Ages,  a 
great  mass  of  paganism  survived  both  outside  and 
inside  the  Church  of  Rome,  even  in  Europe.  It 
was  only  scotched  at  the  best,  and  never  quite 
killed ;  and  on  the  eve  of  the  Reformation  Pope 
Leo  X.  could  speak  of  Christianity  as  having  been 
a  profitable  fable  for  him  and  his.  Philosophy 
had  gone  back  to  Aristotle,  and  Christian  doctrine 
had  been  forced  into  pagan  forms ;  while  art  had 

317 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

gone  back  to  naturalism.  The  Virgin  and  the 
saints  as  well  as  the  Lord  Himself  took  the  place 
of  the  deities  of  Greece  and  Rome,  to  say  nothing 
of  still  fouler  cults.  And  although  it  is  the  case 
that  the  theology  of  paganism  is  now  largely  a 
thing  of  the  past  in  the  lands  which  have  been 
Christianised,  and  that  its  science  has  not  been 
able  to  abide  the  advent  of  the  printing-press 
and  the  steam-engine,  it  would  be  a  grievous 
blunder  to  imagine  that  paganism  itself  is  extinct 
or  effete  even  in  the  Christian  lands. 

Its  temples  are  everywhere  falling  to  pieces 
before  the  light  of  civilisation.  That  is  part  of 
the  crisis  which  we  have  now  to  face.  Yet 
heathenism  not  only  endures,  but  is  adapting 
itself  to  new  conditions.  It  is  even  becoming 
Missionary  in  its  old  strongholds,  while  it  is  reacting 
in  more  ways  than  one  on  the  religious  life  of  the 
homelands.  Until  the  nations  have  been  actually 
won  for  Christ,  in  reality  as  well  as  in  name,  the 
dark  shadow  of  paganism  will  remain,  even  where 
men  know  that  the  theoretical  basis  of  the  old 
faiths  is  ridiculous  and  incredible. 

It  has  been  calculated  by  experts  in  such  matters 
that  over  against  the  3,000,000  of  converts  who 
were  won  from  heathenism  by  Christian  Missions 
during  the  nineteenth  century,  the  population  of 
that  heathen   world  increased   by  no  fewer  than 

31^ 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

200,000,000  during  the  same  period.  It  is  a 
colossal  error  to  think  of  paganism  as  if  it  were 
negative  merely,  the  absence  of  light ;  or  that  all 
that  is  needed  for  reformation  is  that  the  light  of 
the  truth  should  shine  into  the  darkness.  Nothing 
is  farther  from  the  truth  than  that  the  heathen 
nations  are  so  conscious  of  their  defects  that  they 
welcome  the  truth  whenever  it  is  rightly  presented 
to  them.  Paganism  is  positive  in  its  opposition 
to  the  truth ;  a  dense  enveloping  black  fog  which 
distorts  and  bewilders,  and  which  persists  when, 
according  to  every  theory,  it  ought  to  have  vanished 
for  ever.  The  alternatives  with  which  the  Church 
of  Christ  is  faced  are  not,  either  to  let  things  go 
on  as  they  are,  or  win  the  nations  for  the  Gospel. 
They  are  in  reality,  either  to  conquer  heathenism 
in  the  strength  of  God,  or  to  be  conquered  by  it. 
Nothing  is  more  obvious  from  what  has  taken 
place  in  the  past  than  that  the  sands  of  paganism 
can  drift  in  from  the  desert  until  the  garden  of 
the  Lord  is  only  a  waste,  and  the  candlestick  has 
been  removed. 

And^after  all,  in  many  essential  respects,  modern 
materialism,  as  it  is  practised  and  as  it  works  out 
in  ordinary  life,  is  simply  paganism  brought  up 
to  date  and  adapted  to  the  conditions  of  Western 
culture.  Even  its  morality  tends  to  become  pagan^ 
and   indeed  cannot  but  be  pagan  when  once  the 

319 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

restraints  of  the  Christian  traditions  and  the 
Christian  environment,  which  may  persist  long 
after  faith  has  departed,  have  finally  passed  away. 
It  does  not  even  deliver  men  from  superstition, 
and  still  less  does  it  set  them  free  from  intolerance 
or  the  odium  theologicum ;  for  nothing  in  modern 
life  has  been  more  persecuting  than  some  of  the 
attacks  of  the  secularists,  in  high  stations  and  in 
low,  on  the  freedom  of  the  children  of  God. 

Materialism  ends  by  destroying  the  sense  of 
personal  responsibility.  There  is  no  Supreme  Being 
left  to  whom  man  can  be  accountable ;  nor,  indeed, 
is  there  any  man  left  to  be  accountable.  For  what 
meaning  has  either  praise  or  blame,  or  such  terms 
as  good  or  bad,  for  one  who  is  no  more  than  a 
fortuitous  concourse  of  atoms  ?  There  is  not  much 
left  that  is  worth  having,  after  it  has  been  authori- 
tatively announced  that  "we  are  what  we  eat." 
Charity  and  compassion  are  ridiculous  and  per- 
nicious interferences  with  the  only  sacred  things 
that  are  left — the  gods  of  the  materialistic  Israel, 
the  survival  of  the  fittest,  and  the  struggle  for 
existence.  Whenever  materialism  is  logical,  it  can 
have  no  more  respect  than  paganism  has  for  free- 
dom of  opinion,  noble  motives,  patriotic  yearnings, 
or  strivings  after  holiness.  Indeed,  it  has  less 
respect  for  such  things  than  paganism  at  its  best, 
since  for  it  they  are  but  the  necessary  outcome 

320 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

of  inevitable  and  impersonal  molecular  changes. 
Materialism,  just  like  paganism,  would  crush  out 
as  peculiarly  hateful  everything  connected  with  the 
love  and  grace  of  God ;  and  especially  everything 
connected  with  that  great  doctrine  of  the  forgive- 
ness of  sins  which  lies  at  the  foundation  of  the 
Christian  hope  and  is  the  inspiration  of  those  who 
labour  among  the  weary  and  heavy-laden,  the 
corner-stone  of  salvation  by  the  blood  of  Christ. 

There  is  therefore  Mission  work  at  his  own  door 
which  every  Christian  is  called  to  do,  whether  he 
is  in  a  foreign  land  or  in  a  Christian  land ;  work, 
too,  in  which  enormous  difficulties  must  be  faced, 
and  in  which  glory  may  be  won.  Indeed,  it  may 
be  questioned  whether  Foreign  Mission  work  can 
prosper  unless  Home  Mission  work  is  being  eagerly 
carried  on,  any  more  than  the  work  at  home 
can  prosper  if  the  great  lone  lands  of  the  heathen 
are  overlooked.  Every  Christian  at  home  ought 
to  have  his  deputies  abroad  if  he  cannot  go  there 
himself;  but  no  believer  can  do  all  his  work  by 
deputy.  He  can  only  work  through  others  in 
proportion  as  he  is  doing  work  himself.  He  can 
only  do  his  part  in  the  great  organism  of  the 
Body  of  Christ  through  co-operation  with  all  the 
other  members  of  the  Church ;  and  for  that  he 
must  find  work  to  do  among  the  heathen  wherever 
his  lot  has  been  cast.  Those  who  are  blind  to 
N.E.— 2  1  321 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

the  hands  which  beckon  in  either  sphere  will  not 
be  of  much  avail  in  the  other,  whichever  it  may 
be ;  and  to  this  it  may  be  added  that  those  who 
can  listen  without  anguish  and  effective  response 
to  the  dumb  yearnings  and  the  summons  too  deep 
for  words  of  the  empty  hearts  and  broken  lives 
either  here  or  yonder — and  there  seem  to  be  many 
such — have  but  little  ground  for  believing  that 
Jesus  of  Nazareth,  Who  came  from  heaven  to  earth 
to  seek  and  save  the  lost,  is  their  Saviour  and 
Lord.  At  any  rate,  they  have  little  of  His  spirit 
or  mind. 

This  call  of  the  new  era,  further,  comes  with 
a  most  impressive  appeal  to  all  the  scattered 
branches  of  the  Church  of  the  living  God,  alike  in 
the  homelands  and  in  the  foreign  field,  to  make 
their  unity  manifest,  and  to  be  one  in  presence 
of  all  the  forces  which  are  contending  for  the 
mastery,  that  the  whole  world  may  believe  that 
the  Father  sent  His  Son  to  be  Saviour  and  King. 
The  work  is  far  too  great  to  be  done  by  any  section 
of  the  Church,  and  while  there  may  be  advantages 
in  emulation  and  even  in  rivalry  up  to  a  certain 
point,  the  work  which  endures  is  not  done  along 
these  lines,  but  through  a  Church  at  one  in  its 
consecration.  The  work  is  sufficient  to  tax  all 
the  resources  of  the  Church ;  and  there  should  be 
no  waste,  nor  any  useless  competition  in  one  field 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

while  other  fields  are  left  unoccupied.  What  is 
needed  is  consecrated  unity,  and  a  great  supreme 
effort  all  along  the  line  such  as  will  submerge  all 
the  miserable  divisions  and  rivalries  at  home  in 
an  all-absorbing  yearning  and  endeavour  to  win 
all  men  for  Christ. 

It  will  not  suffice  to  employ  the  utmost  resources 
of  our  modern  civilisation,  unless  we  also  supply 
the  unity  which,  as  Christ  has  so  clearly  indicated, 
is  a  condition  of  success  in  this  very  work  of  con- 
vincing the  world  that  He  is  the  Messiah.  In  spite 
of  all  the  painful  travesties  of  it  which  history 
has  seen,  Catholicism  must  be  the  Church's  ideal ; 
and  she  must  earnestly  seek  to  attain  it,  and  be 
prepared  to  make  sacrifices  to  attain  it,  in  face 
of  all  obstacles.  The  schismatic  spirit  is  hateful 
and  treasonable  anywhere ;  but  it  is  peculiarly 
obnoxious  in  presence  of  the  heathen,  as  if  Christ 
were  divided.  And  it  is  full  of  significance 
that  the  work  of  reunion  has  begun  on  the  foreign 
field,  and  that  already  Churches  which  have  not 
yet  been  able  to  unite  their  forces  at  home  have 
united  them  out  at  the  front,  where  Satan's  syna- 
gogue is.  Just  as  in  Canada  the  movement  for  the 
union  of  the  Presbyterians,  Methodists,  and  Con- 
gregationalists  in  one  great  Evangelical  Church — a 
movement  which  is  full  of  hope  as  it  is  of  daring — 
has  been  inspired  and  mightily  reinforced  by  the 

323 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

needs  of  the  Far  West  into  which  emigrants  are 
for  ever  pouring,  so  it  is  the  pressure  of  the 
problems  of  heathenism  which  is  forcing  the 
Churches  into  line  with  each  other  in  the  regions 
beyond. 

In  India  the  representatives  of  no  fewer  than 
six  Churches  have  become  one  Presbyterian  Church, 
and  it  is  said  that  others  will  join  them.  And  this 
young  Church  is  making  very  gratifying  progress. 
Its  congregations  increased  from  115  in  1906  to 
125  in  1907  ;  its  communicants  from  15,772  to 
16,085  ;  and  its  baptized  adherents  from  31,335 
to  37,514.  During  that  same  year  the  number 
of  baptisms  was  5220,  of  which  not  fewer  than 
2674  were  those  of  adults.  In  Calcutta,  too,  the 
colleges  of  the  Established  Church  of  Scotland  and 
of  the  United  Free  Church  of  Scotland  have  now 
joined  their  forces  and  become  one  institution  for 
permeating  the  new  learning  in  India  with  the 
doctrine  and  Person  of  Christ  and  for  the  train- 
ing of  native  Indians  to  evangelise  their  fellow- 
countrymen.  The  same  unifying  process  is  going 
on  in  Madras,  and  its  great  Christian  College. 
The  State  connection,  which  is  still  a  barrier 
between  these  two  Churches  at  home,  does  not 
exist  abroad,  and  so  they  can  be  one  there, 
although  still  separated  in  Scotland. 

In  Japan  for  years  now  there  has  been  union 
324 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

among  the  converts  of  the  various  Protestant 
Missions ;  and  in  all  new  Missions  care  should  be 
taken  to  heal  the  breaches  before  they  are  made, 
by  working  in  unity  from  the  first.  It  is  far 
from  improbable  that,  just  as  the  great  revival  for 
which  Christendom  is  agonising,  and  without  which 
she  cannot  live,  may  come  by  way  of  the  foreign 
field,  the  impulse  and  power  which  are  needed 
for  the  union  which  Christ  desires  may  come 
from  the  same  quarter.  It  may  well  be  that  the 
pressure  from  abroad  will  enable  the  home  Churches 
to  see  things  from  the  Divine  standpoint  and  in 
their  right  relations  and  proportions,  and  promote  a 
true  unity,  in  which  there  will  be  room  for  charity 
in  all  things,  along  with  unity  in  essentials  and 
liberty  in  non-essentials,  combined  with  the  wisdom 
truly  to  distinguish  the  essential  from  the  non- 
essential, and  to  see  past  everything  else  to  their 
Divine  Head.  Well  may  all  believers  pray  and  work 
for  such  a  consummation  ;  for  it  is  thus  that  God 
incites  His  people  to  obedience  and  reveals  Himself 
to  those  who  do  His  will  in  child-like  simplicity 
and  sincerity. 

This  loud  call  of  the  new  era  is  greatly  accentu- 
ated and  reinforced  by  the  extraordinary  activity 
of  the  enemies  of  the  Christian  faith.  They  too 
seem  to  be  impressed  by  the  urgency  of  the  crisis, 
and  are  making  use  of  all  the  resources  of  civilisation 

325 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

and  all  the  inventions  and  changes  through  which 
God  is  inciting  His  people  to  dare  and  do  great 
things  for  Him.  In  only  too  many  instances,  in- 
deed, there  is  a  malignity  in  the  opposition  which 
is  shown  to  Christ  and  those  who  are  forward  to 
serve  Him,  and  especially  to  those  who  go  out 
into  the  heathen  darkness  with  His  light  in  their 
hands,  which  is  comparable  only  to  the  work  of 
the  demons  who  assailed  our  Lord  when  He  was 
here  on  the  earth  in  the  days  of  His  flesh. 

Once  again  the  Satanic  kingdom  is  measuring 
all  its  might  with  the  might  of  the  King.  The 
powers  of  darkness  are  all  alive  to  the  full  signifi- 
cance and  possibilities  of  the  new  situation,  and 
are  on  the  alert  to  attain  the  victory  for  that 
"  mystery  of  iniquity  "  which  from  Apostolic  times 
until  now  has  worked  so  much  woe.  There  is  a 
certain  encouragement  in  all  this  activity,  and  it 
should  nerve  every  Christian  to  the  utmost  to 
secure  the  conquest  for  Christ.  For  all  we  know, 
it  may  be  that  these  evil  forces,  these  unclean 
powers  of  the  pit,  are  marshalling  for  the 
Armao'eddon  in  which  the  last  battle  will  be 
fought  out ;  and  unless  believers  every\Yhere  unite 
to  enter  in  and  occupy  when  their  Lord  is  ready 
to  march  at  their  head,  their  opportunities  may 
quickly  be  lost,  and  the  black  flag  of  the  enemy 
of  souls   may   float   over    the  strongholds   which 

326 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

should  have  been  won  for  the  King.  That  the 
enemy  is  so  active  and  so  mischievous  and  malig- 
nant is,  of  course,  a  tribute  to  the  activity  of  the 
Church  in  spite  of  all  her  divisions  and  worldliness  ; 
for  he  is  always  ready  to  leave  the  Church  alone  if 
she  leaves  him  alone  :  but  it  must  never  be  taken 
for  granted,  in  any  particular  conflict,  that  the 
enemy  of  souls  is  bound  to  be  overcome. 

Truth  is  great,  and  will  prevail.  Christ  is  to 
reign  until  He  has  put  everything  hostile  under 
His  feet ;  but  there  may  be  many  victories  for  the 
evil  before  the  final  victory  of  Christ.  This  is  a 
fallen  world,  but  it  is  a  redeemed  world  ;  and  it  is 
inconceivable  that  the  final  result  can  mean  any- 
thing else  than  victory  for  the  pure  and  true  :  yet 
the  enemy  who  triumphed  in  Asia  Minor  and 
North  Africa,  the  enemy  who  sowed  the  tares  of 
Socinianism  and  Unitarianism  in  the  Churches  of 
the  Reformation,  the  enemy  who  has  sowed 
sedition  even  among  Missionaries  with  the  black- 
ness all  around,  may  triumiDh  once  again  and  for 
a  time  in  Great  Britain  or  Japan.  In  presence  of 
a  materialistic  science,  which  is  seeking  to  replace 
the  old  paganism  with  the  new ;  in  presence  of 
Islam,  with  its  efforts  after  expansion  and  its  dreams 
of  reform ;  in  presence  of  rationalism  eating  into 
the  vitals  of  Protestantism,  and  sacerdotalism  de- 
grading so  much  of  Romanism — there  is  everything 

327 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

in  the  call  which  the  new  era  addresses  to  the 
faithful  in  all  the  Churches  that  can  appeal  to 
courage  and  heroism,  to  loyalty  to  Christ  and  com- 
passion for  the  souls  of  men. 

The  battle  will  not  be  won  either  by  mechanism 
or  magic.  In  the  final  issue,  neither  mere  ortho- 
doxy nor  mere  organisation  will  avail.  There  must 
be  living  faith  in  Christ,  prompt  obedience  to  His 
call ;  devoted,  grateful  service  even  to  the  death. 
This  kind  goeth  not  out  but  by  prayer ;  and  no- 
thing less  than  a  living,  self-denying  Christianity 
can  conquer  heathenism  as  it  now  confronts  us 
for  freedom  or  truth.  All  else  is  but  ploughing 
the  sands  or  beating  the  air. 

But,  further,  this  call  of  the  new  era  comes  to 
us  not  only  reinforced  by  the  activity  of  the  King's 
foes,  but  also  by  the  very  difficulty  and  complexity 
of  the  situation.  Those  who  think  merely  of  open 
doors  are  seeing  only  one  side  of  the  shield.  In 
every  sense  of  the  term,  the  situation  is  critical, 
and  there  is  the  utmost  need  for  the  organisation 
of  all  the  Church's  resources  even  from  the  view- 
point of  self-defence.  There  are  those  on  the  other 
side  who  dream  dreams  of  sweeping  Christianity 
out  of  the  way.  At  best,  we  are  told,  it  can  only  be 
incorporated,  and  taken  up  into  the  new  religion, 
which  is  to  embody  all  that  is  best  in  all  the  older 
theologies  and  faiths,  as  something  which  may  have 

328 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

been  of  use  in  the  evolution  of  the  race,  but  has 
had  its  day,  and  must  now  give  place  to  something 
better  which  will  preserve  all  that  is  good  in  it. 

The  battle  which  is  now  joined  is  one  in  which 
no  terms  will  be  given.  It  is  a  battle  to  the 
death — or  rather,  as  Christians  believe,  to  the 
life.  It  is  a  battle,  too,  which  can  only  be  won 
by  a  citizen  army,  and  the  whole  army  must  not 
only  be  mobilised  but  actually  engaged  on  the 
field.  Ingenuity  and  originality  must  be  shown 
in  the  strategy ;  and  we  should  not  only  never 
despise  the  foe,  we  should  be  willing  to  learn  from 
him.  Every  atom  of  strength  must  be  used  ;  and 
instead  of  slurring  over  the  dangers  and  difficulties, 
they  should  be  insisted  on  as  adding  to  the  urgency 
of  the  appeal.  It  is  more  than  probable  that  the 
heroic  element  in  the  Church  would  respond  eagerly 
to  such  an  appeal.  As  a  matter  of  experience,  it 
is  not  the  call  to  a  "walk  over,"  or  to  a  "demon- 
stration in  force,"  which  has  hitherto  roused  the 
Missionary  spirit  most  and  made  common  men 
heroes,  but  the  summons  to  endure  hardness  as 
good  soldiers  of  Jesus  Christ. 

It  has  been  remarked  of  the  Church  of  Rome 
that  she  never  abates  her  claims,  and  that  that  has 
been  one  of  the  secrets  of  her  success,  such  as  it 
has  been.  And  if  this  sometimes  becomes  an 
appeal  to  carnal  pride,    it  need  not  be  so ;    even 

329 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

as  Christ  appealed  to  His  own  generation  to  leave 
all  and  follow  Him,  so  He  still  appeals  to  the  best 
and  noblest  in  man,  and  calls  for  those  who  will 
storm  the  breach  and  face  the  hope  which  is  for- 
lorn only  in  name,  since  He  is  Leader  and  Lord. 
Nor  should  the  failures  and  defeats  of  the  campaign 
be  concealed  from  the  rank  and  file,  lest  they 
should  be  discouraged  and  faint  in  their  minds. 
There  has  never  been  such  readiness  to  confess 
Christ  as  when  confession  meant  persecution  and 
perhaps  death ;  and  the  men  and  women  through 
whom  the  world  will  be  won  for  righteousness  and 
truth  are  just  those  who  will  be  incited  by  the 
difficulties  and  dangers  of  the  situation ;  true 
knights  of  God  as  they  assuredly  are. 

In  this  connection  it  is  noteworthy  that  what- 
ever posts  may  appeal  in  vain  for  volunteers,  that 
has  never  been  true  of  the  places  which  meant 
facing  the  deadly  fever  and  taking  up  the  work  of 
those  who  had  fallen  on  the  battlefield.  If  it  be  true 
that  even  in  the  midst  of  the  revival  in  Manchuria 
it  has  been  difficult  to  get  workers  from  the  home- 
lands, it  is  also  true  that  out  on  the  Congo,  where 
so  many  have  fallen,  there  has  never  been  lack  of 
true-hearted  men  and  women  to  take  their  places. 
The  fascination  of  Africa  has  been  felt  in  the 
Mission  field  as  well  as  in  connection  with  travel  and 
exploration  ;  and  that  so  many  have  perished  in 

330 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

its  wilds  has  not  hindered,  but  has  rather  encour- 
aged, others  to  follow  in  their  train. 

From  all  this  it  follows  that  the  Intelligence 
Department  in  the  Missionary  warfare  should  be 
specially  busy  and  well  equipped,  and  that  know- 
ledge should  be  spread  everywhere  regarding  the 
present  crisis,  with  all  its  promises  and  all  its  risks. 
It  is  all  very  well  to  "  muddle  through  somehow"  ; 
but  it  is  far  better  to  give  the  King  of  our  very 
best  in  every  department,  and  to  go  through  with 
open  eyes  and  intelligent  outlook. 

The  idea  which  is  now  being  developed  of 
Mission  Study  Circles  is  splendid,  and  capable 
of  vast  usefulness.  God  never  works  by  magic, 
other  than  the  magic  of  faith  ;  and  if  the  Church 
is  to  see  her  sons  and  daughters  respond  to  the 
cry,  "  Come  over  and  help  us,"  she  must  bring 
every  legitimate  influence  to  bear  on  them,  and 
let  them  know  the  facts  of  the  case.  Obscurantism 
is  of  no  avail ;  and  no  part  of  the  Church's  work 
has  less  need  to  fear  the  light  than  the  imperialism 
of  the  Gospel,  which  claims  the  whole  round  earth 
for  Christ,  and  therefore  for  civilisation  and 
freedom.  It  was  through  Mission  study — the 
circle  or  band  sometimes  consisting  of  only  one 
member — that  the  best  of  our  Missionaries  were 
sent  out  to  their  work.  Carey  made  his  cobbler's 
shed  a  Missionary    college.     It   was   the    reading 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

of  Missionary  letters  in  liis  Sabbath-school  by  the 
minister  of  an  obscure  country  congregation  which 
made  James  Chalmers  determine  as  a  boy  that, 
God  helping  him,  he  would  be  a  Missionary. 

Those  who  think  that  men  can  be  swept  into 
this  work  by  blind  impulse  know  little  of  its 
history.  Splendid  as  it  is  when  the  brightest 
and  best  among  our  youth  volunteer  under  the 
influence  of  stirring  appeals,  it  is  altogether 
necessary  that  their  decision  to  be  Missionaries 
should  be  based  on  knowledge  of  what  is  to  be 
done  and  how  it  must  be  done.  And  it  is  a 
lamentable  fact  that  even  yet,  in  spite  of  the 
liberal  use  which  is  now  being  made  of  the  print- 
ing -  press,  the  ignorance  which  prevails  about 
Missions  all  round  is  as  stupendous  as  it  is  shame- 
ful. The  ordinary  press  may  have  ceased  to  sneer 
at  Missions,  but  it  is  as  little  interested  as  ever  in 
their  real  work.  Not  a  few,  too,  even  of  those 
who  contribute  mechanically  and  regularly  to 
Mission  funds,  do  so  without  any  adequate  know- 
ledge or  interest,  and  are  consequently  unable  to 
follow  their  givings  with  their  prayers  as  they 
ought.  Nothing  but  ignorance,  alike  of  the  Bible 
and  of  what  is  being  done  for  perishing  souls,  can 
account  for  the  indiff'erence  of  many  who  say  that 
Christ  has  redeemed  them  ;  while  as  for  the  actual 
opposition  of  some  who  profess  to  be  Christians 

332 


The  Call   of  the  New  Era 

even  in  this  new  and  inspiring  era,  it  can  only 
perish  through  the  truth,  as  to  what  is  being  done 
and  what  ought  to  be  done,  falling  on  it,  like 
some  foul  fungus  which  cannot  abide  the  light. 

It  may  readily  be  admitted  that  Missionaries 
have  not  always  been  heroic,  or  their  supporters 
always  wise ;  and  that  we  may  learn  many  things 
from  the  nations  beyond  the  pale,  and  be  interested 
in  "  native  ways  of  expressing  sacred  truths," 
without  acting  as  if  believers  in  Christ  have  any 
alternative  to  obeying  His  express  orders  and 
making  Him  known  everywhere.  Philosophers  may 
discuss  whether  Christianity  is  the  final  religion  ; 
but  it  is  treason  for  Christians  to  act  as  if  that 
could  conceivably  be  an  open  question  for  them. 
Yet  some  who  bear  Christ's  name  speak  of  it  being 
better  in  some  cases  to  leave  heathen  men  and 
women  in  their  heathenism,  and  of  it  being 
necessary  for  some  tribes  that  they  should  reach 
Christ  by  way  of  Islam.  Truly  the  need  for 
knowledge,  and  of  knowledge  that  will  move  the 
heart  and  touch  the  emotions  as  well  as  inform  the 
mind,  is  very  great ;  and  some  who  cannot  go 
abroad  might  give  compensation  by  collecting  and 
scattering  such  knowledge  all  around,  and  putting 
the  darkness  to  flight. 

There  ought  to  be  the  same  keen  interest  among 
Christians  at  home  in  what  is  going  on   among 

1   T   -J 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

their  brethren  in  the  foreign  field  that  there  is  in  a 
time  of  war  in  what  is  happening  at  the  front. 
It  is  said  that  Sunday  newspapers,  that  unhappy 
product  of  modern  civilisation,  got  a  footing  in 
America  during  the,  Civil  War,  because  the  people 
could  not  wait  till  Monday  for  the  Sunday's  news ; 
and  that  eagerness  for  information  is  a  picture  of 
the  interest  which  the  Church  at  home  should  take 
in  the  doings  of  her  soldiers  away  out  in  the  con- 
flict with  heathen  darkness. 

But  the  contrast  between  that,  or  anything  like 
that,  and  what  actually  obtains  is  very  obvious. 
All  the  resources  of  literature  and  the  platform, 
of  the  printing-press  and  lantern-slides,  should 
be  employed  to  spread  the  light,  and  everything 
should  be  up-to-date.  It  is  more  than  time  that 
some  of  the  stock  pictures,  of  tidy  little  congrega- 
tions listening  to  a  preacher  in  full  clerical  attire, 
under  a  grove  of  palm  trees,  and  the  like,  found 
their  way  to  the  limbo  of  forgotten  lore.  If 
only  the  boys  and  girls,  the  young  men  and  women, 
who  are  growing  up  in  the  Church,  knew  better 
what  is  being  done,  and  how  much  might  and 
ought  to  be  done,  there  would  soon  be  kindled 
such  a  fire  of  enthusiasm  as  would  bring  sturdy 
volunteers  everywhere  into  the  field,  and  would 
cause  the  Church  to  rise  as  she  has  never  yet 
done  to  the  height  of  her  calling  in  Christ.     Nor 

334 


■     The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

need  there  be  any  fear  as  to  the  result  of  intro- 
ducing disintegrating  forces  among  the  tribes  and 
nations  to  which  we  carry  the  mighty  solvents  of 
Christianity  and  civilisation. 

The  call  of  the  new  era  is  to  give  all  men 
everywhere  the  very  best  we  have,  and  that 
involves  giving  them  the  Gospel  of  the  grace 
of  God.  Tremendous  as  is  the  responsibility  of 
introducing  such  a  disintegrating  spirit  into  the 
life  of  another  civilisation,  it  is  a  vastly  greater 
responsibility  for  Christians  to  refuse  obedience 
to  the  Divine  command,  and  fail  to  introduce  the 
only  power  that  can  truly  reintegrate  society 
and  reconstruct  it  on  a  permanent  and  just  basis. 
So  long  as  Christians  are  acting  in  obedience  to 
their  Lord,  and  do  it  in  His  spirit,  they  may 
leave  the  responsibility  and  the  results  to  Him. 
Sin  has  already  done  the  disintegrating  work,  and 
those  who  know  the  Gospel  are  called  to  throw 
the  healing  salt  into  the  springs  of  life.  In  any 
case,  w^e  may  take  it  that  Herbert  Spencer  was 
right  when  he  said  :  "The  highest  truth  the  wise 
man  sees,  he  will  fearlessly  utter :  knowing  that, 
let  what  may  come  of  it,  he  is  thus  playing  his 
right  part  in  the  world ;  knowing  that,  if  he  can 
effect  the  change  he  aims  at — well ;  if  not — well 
also,  but  not  so  well." 

The  wise  Missionary  will  never  seek  to  transplant 

•1  ->  c 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

what  is  accidental  in  Occidental  Christianity  into 
the  Orient,  or  what  is  merely  Anglo-Saxon  in 
Church  government  amongst  races  altogether  alien 
in  habit  and  origin.  Nor  will  he  ever  allow 
himself  to  be  a  political  agent,  or  the  mere  fore- 
runner of  the  trader.  In  his  love  for  those  among 
whom  he  labours,  and  in  his  loyalty  to  their 
national  aspirations  and  love  of  freedom,  he  will 
be  jealous  for  all  their  rights,  and  will  put  his 
trust  in  what  is  essential  in  the  Gospel,  and  make 
Christ  Himself  the  Alpha  and  the  Omega,  the 
Beginning  and  the  End.  And  thus,  in  the 
great  work  of  winning  the  heathen  for  the  Lord, 
there  is  need  for  infinite  wisdom,  just  as  there 
is  scope  for  the  exercise  of  every  other  gift  and 
grace. 

The  equipment  of  the  Missionaries  of  the 
twentieth  century  is  set  forth  in  the  high  calling 
of  the  Evangelist  of  the  first.  They  are  to  unite, 
as  those  sent  forth  as  sheep  among  wolves,  the 
wisdom  of  the  serpent  and  the  harmlessness  of 
the  dove.  They  are  to  have  that  good  sense  and 
insight  without  which  the  work  can  never  be 
carried  on  with  success.  They  must  be  able  to 
make  the  most  of  their  circumstances,  and  be  men 
of  affairs,  wise  administrators,  and  statesmanlike 
leaders.  They  must  reflect  deeply  on  the  ways 
and  means  which  will  lead  them  to  the  goal,  and 

33^ 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

choose  the  best.  Yet  alongside  of  this  there  must 
also  be  the  simplicity  of  the  dove,  lest  humble 
trust  in  the  Divine  guidance  should  be  replaced 
by  self-seeking  and  self-conceit.  The  union  of 
these  two  sets  of  qualities  is  the  ideal  set  before 
the  Missionary  by  his  Lord.  Mere  cleverness  or 
even  ability  is  not  enough,  and  yet  there  is  no 
virtue  in  being  gullible.  But  to  add  the  harm- 
lessness  of  the  dove  to  the  wisdom  of  the  serpent 
is  the  highway  to  victory. 

Thus  does  the  Call  of  the  New  Era  come  to  us, 
with  all  the  ages  behind  it  to  give  it  weight  and 
emphasis ;  and  not  one  accent  of  the  messages  of 
the  past  need  be  ignored  as  we  listen  to  the  orders 
for  the  new  day,  remembering  always  that  with 
every  new  summons  to  service  there  comes  the 
promise  of  grace  to  obey,  if  there  be  the  will  to 
obey,  and  that  as  our  days  are  so  shall  our 
strength  be.  And  now  is  the  judgment  of  this 
world. 

1.  The  era  of  Old  Testament  preparation, 
within  the  fence  and  beyond,  unites  with  the  new 
era  to  say  that  the  will  of  God  is  that  all  men 
should  be  saved.  "  Behold,  all  souls  are  Mine," 
is  still  the  Divine  reminder ;  they  are  all  of  one 
blood,  and  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord   shall  yet 

N.E.-22  ^S7 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

cover  the  whole  earth  as  the  waters  cover  the  sea, 
'*  Every  valley  shall  be  exalted,  and  every  mountain 
and  hill  laid  low." 

2.  The  first  Christian  century  unites  with  the 
latest  to  say  that  there  must  be  no  geographical 
limitations  in  the  outlook  of  the  believer ;  that 
the  Gospel  is  meant  for  all  and  adapted  to  the 
needs  of  all ;  that  it  can  lay  hold  of  all  who  need 
it,  and  that  all  men  need  it.  Other  religions 
have  their  zones  of  vegetation,  beyond  which 
they  cannot  thrive ;  but  Christianity  can  flourish 
wherever  man  can  live.  It  is  for  the  Bushman 
and  Eskimo,  as  well  as  for  the  cultured  and  de- 
veloped peoples ;  for  the  ancient  and  the  modern, 
for  the  Occident  and  the  Orient  alike.  "  Go 
ye  into  all  the  world,  and  preach  the  Gospel  to 
every  creature,"  is  still  the  Divine  command  and 
will. 

3.  The  generations  which  saw  the  Empire  of 
Rome  overrun  by  the  emissaries  of  Christ  unite 
to  say  to  our  generation  that  every  believer  is 
called  to  be  a  Missionary,  and  that  every  con- 
gregation of  the  saints  should  be  a  centre  of  light 
in  the  midst  of  the  darkness  and  sin.  Wherever 
the  Christian  finds  himself — in  peace  in  his  own 
home,  or  in  flight  as  a  martyr  for  the  truth — to 

338 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

the  extent  of  his  opportunities,  he  must  let  his  light 
shine,  and  claim  everyone  he  meets  for  the  service 
of  his  Lord.  The  anvil  wears  out  the  hammer ; 
and  even  if  there  is  still  persecution  for  those 
who  are  loyal  to  the  Saviour,  God  honours  courage 
and  faithfulness ;  and  the  "  Galilean  "  Who  conquered 
long  ago  will  assuredly  conquer  in  the  days  to  come, 
and  the  crowning  victory  may  be  near  at  hand. 

4.  The  era  of  Missions  to  the  Barbarians 
throughout  Europe  reminds  our  era  that  in  the 
Kingdom  of  Christ  there  is  to  be  neither  Jew  nor 
Gentile,  Barbarian  nor  Greek ;  and  that  Christ  is 
the  great  Leveller,  who  always  levels  up.  It 
reminds  us,  too,  that  just  in  proportion  as  the 
spirit  of  priestcraft  enters  into  the  work,  the 
hankering  to  lord  it  over  Christ's  heritage,  so  the 
true  Missionary  spirit  dies  out,  and  faith,  on  which 
all  else  depends,  disappears  with  it.  A  little  leaven 
leaveneth  the  whole  lump  alike  for  evil  or  for 
good  ;  and  the  "  mystery  of  iniquity  "  can  creep  in 
like  a  blight  or  an  untimely  frost,  until  even  the 
garden  of  the  Lord  becomes  a  dreary  waste. 
There  are  blessed  circles  of  grace  in  the  history 
of  the  Kingdom  ;  but  there  are  also  vicious  circles, 
in  which  unbelief  strengthens  the  forces  which 
gave  birth  to  it  at  first  until  the  very  sources  of 
life   are   poisoned,  the   darkness  accounted    light, 

339 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

the    evil    worshipped    as   good,   and    the   Gospel 
wounded  in  the  house  of  its  friends. 

5.  The  era  of  the  Reformation,  with  all  its 
grandeur  and  glory,  has  a  very  solemn  message 
for  our  time.  There  may  be  clay  mingled  with 
the  iron,  and  even  the  greatest  and  best  may  be 
short-sighted  and  one-sided.  It  is  only  as  men 
do  God's  will  that  they  can  know  His  doctrine ; 
and  absorption  in  home  problems  and  domestic 
struggles  may  exclude  Foreign  Mission  work  so 
that  there  is  failure  all  along  the  line,  both  at 
home  and  abroad.  The  home  problems  cannot  be 
solved  except  by  a  Church  which  is  loyal  to  the 
whole  counsel  of  God ;  there  can  be  no  enduring 
triumphs  in  the  conflicts  at  home  unless  there 
are  also  victories  abroad ;  the  deadliest  blow 
which  can  be  struck  at  the  work  at  home  is 
to  make  it  everything.  Never  was  the  unity 
of  the  work  in  all  its  branches  more  vividly  en- 
forced than  in  that  age  of  giants,  and  never 
was  the  doom  of  one-sidedness  more  tragically 
set  forth. 

6.  The  Deformation  era  and  ours  agree  in  pro- 
claiming that  nothing  can  flourish  unless  Foreign 
Missions  flourish ;  that  heresy  both  in  life  and 
doctrine  is  inevitable  unless  there  is  obedience  to 

340 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

the  marching  orders  of  the  Church,  which  are  also 
its  standing  orders ;  and  that  paganism  will  not 
be  neutral  in  the  strife,  even  if  the  Church  would 
fain  come  to  terms  with  its  ancient  foe.  The  end 
of  these  things  is  death,  and  disobedience  is  the 
pathway  to  rationalism  and  doom.  Everything 
which  tends  to  drive  the  supernatural  out  of  the 
ordinary  daily  life,  and  to  belittle  the  miraculous, 
tends  also  to  destroy  the  desire  to  win  men  for 
Christ  anywhere ;  and  equally,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  whatever  makes  men  haul  down  the  flag 
of  the  Cross  out  at  the  front  will  send  a  chill 
to  the  heart  of  the  Church  at  home  and  make 
everything  common  and  unclean. 

7.  The  wondrous  Evangelical  Revival  with  which 
the  eighteenth  century — that  era  of  reaction  and 
unbelief — came  to  an  end  and  the  nineteenth 
century — that  era  of  enterprise  and  expansion — 
began,  is  the  converse  of  all  this,  and  sends  on  the 
same  message  to  us  from  the  other  and  gracious 
side.  Carey  is  the  co-worker  of  Simeon  ;  Claudius 
Buchanan  joins  hands  with  Wilberforce  in  the 
work  of  reform ;  Ziegenbalg  and  Francke  conquer 
space  in  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  and  of  the  Body 
of  Christ.  The  true  impulse  of  humanity  knows 
nothing  of  geographical  limitations,  and  the  tide 
of  reform   which    comes   through   the   revival   of 

341 


The  Call  of  the  New   Era 

heart-religion  flows  into  every  creek.  The  feet 
of  him  who  brings  the  good  tidings  cross  the  seas 
and  tarry  not  until  he  has  been  in  every  land. 
Not  only  are  the  home  and  foreign  departments 
one,  when  seen  from  the  standpoint  of  the  eternal ; 
social  and  religious  reform  are  but  one  when  the 
love-light  of  the  Gospel  is  in  men's  eyes,  and 
their  hearts  are  tender  because  of  what  the  great 
salvation  has  done  for  them. 

8.  The  nineteenth  century  unites  with  the 
twentieth  to  tell  of  the  first-fruits  of  the  great 
harvest  which  is  yet  to  fill  all  the  earth  with  joy  ; 
and  to  show  how  every  gift  and  grace,  every 
revolution  and  discovery,  can  be  consecrated  to 
the  hio^hest  and  holiest  ends.  The  increase  in 
the  Church  abroad  has  been  vastly  greater  than 
the  increase  at  home ;  and  although  some  imagine 
that  everything  is  lost  which  is  spent  in  the 
foreign  field,  that  sphere  is  in  no  way  a  debtor  to 
the  Church  at  home.  Nothing  has  brought  such 
blessing  to  the  Church  in  modern  times  as  the 
work  among  the  heathen  ;  and,  if  only  it  be  carried 
on  to  perfection,  it  will  make  all  things  new  in 
heaven  and  on  earth.  Already  many  a  promise 
has  been  illumined ;  whole  tracts  of  Scripture 
have  been  interpreted  by  God's  marvellous  doings ; 
and  the  entire  theology  of  the  Evangelical  Churches 

342 


The  Call   of  the  New  Era 

has  been  interpenetrated  by  a  new  and  more 
tender  spirit,  as  they  have  shared  with  Christ  in 
the  fellowship  of  His  travail  when  nations  long 
in  darkness  and  death  have  been  born  in  a  day. 

9,  The  twentieth  century  has  opened  with  fulness 
of  promise,  but  also  with  that  fulness  of  responsi- 
bility which  such  promise  never  fails  to  bring.  To 
all  who  have  the  vision  of  the  unseen,  or  know 
anything  of  the  open  secret  of  God,  it  is  saying 
that  this  is  the  judgment  of  this  world  and  the 
crisis  of  the  Church  ;  that  it  may  be  now  or  never  ; 
and  that  what  ought,  in  the  great  mercy  of  our 
God,  to  be  a  savour  of  life  unto  life,  may  be  so 
perverted  as  to  become  a  savour  of  death  unto 
death.  Never  were  events  combining  to  say  to  all 
earnest  and  loyal  souls  with  such  solemnity  and 
intensity:  "Work  while  it  is  day,  for  the  night 
Cometh  when  no  man  can  work." 

10.  As  for  the  Call  of  the  New  Era,  all  the 
eras  unite  with  ours  to  make  it  both  urgent  and 
inspiring.  In  some  ways  ours  is  an  age  which  is 
*'  sicklied  o'er  with  the  pale  cast  of  thought,"  and 
burdened  with  problems  for  which  some  see  no 
other  solution  but  through  the  destruction  of  law 
and  order.  But  all  around  in  the  Mission  field 
there  is  the  sense  of  promise,  almost  of  youth,  as 

343 


The  Call  of  the  New  Era 

great  nations  are  casting  oflf  the  sleep  of  ages  and 
going  forth  as  a  strong  man  to  run  a  race. 

Once  again  God  has  come  to  His  people  with 
vast  opportunities,  and  is  calling  all  who  are 
obedient  to  His  will  to  use  them  in  the  light  of  the 
successes  and  failures  of  the  ages  which  are  gone. 
The  Golden  Age  of  the  Gospel  lies  in  front.  It  was 
not  in  Eden,  but  is  still  to  come.  "  The  best  is 
yet  to  be,  the  last  of  life,  for  which  the  first  was 
made."  "  He  that  hatli  an  ear,  let  him  hear  what 
the  Spirit  saith  unto  the  churches." 


344 


INDEX 


Abgar  Bar  Manu,  67. 
Abraham,  13,  19. 
Abyssinia,  114. 
Adamnan,  109. 
Alexander  the  Great,  25. 
Alexandria,  27,  63,  79. 
Andrew  the  Apostle,  42, 
Andronicus,  36. 
Anna,  23,  25. 
Antioch,  36,  38,  62,  63. 
Antoninus  Pius,  67. 
Apocrypha,  17. 
Apollos,  41. 
Apologists,  62. 

Justin  Martyr,  73,  74. 

Origen,  73,  79,  80. 

Polycarp,  73,  74. 

Tertullian,    73,    77, 
89. 
Apostles,  41. 
Arabia,  27. 
Areopagus,  51. 
Arnold  of  Cologne,  115. 
Asceticism,  101. 
Asia  Minor,  44,  51,  327. 
Asiarchs,  50. 
Athens,  51. 
Aulus  Plautius,  49. 

Barnabas,  38,  39,  41. 
Bible  Societies,  208-10. 


78,    8' 


Bithjmia,  51. 
Blackstone,  194. 
Bohemia,  124. 
Brazil,  146. 
Britain,  43,  92. 
Bryennios,  71. 
Bunyan,  8,  37. 
Burma,  237. 

Cairo,  Mohammedan  conference 

at,  5. 
Calvin,  128,  138,  141,  146. 
Calvinism,  159,  182. 
Carinthia,  92. 
Carlyle,  7. 
Carthage,  63. 
Casas,  Las,  132. 
Celts,  109. 

Chalmers,  Dr.,  215,  218,  249. 
Chaplains,  Missionary,  185. 
China,  114,  115,  237,  330. 

modern  spirit  in,  293-95,  310. 
Christianity,  Imperial,  40,  272, 

331. 
Spiritual  and   Universal,  24, 

34. 
Churchill,  Right  Hon.  Winston, 

234. 
Cilicia,  27. 
Claudius,  27,  48. 
Coligny,  146. 

345 


Index 


Commission,  The  Great,  16,  35, 

269. 
Commodus,  66. 
Comparative       Religion       and 

Missions,  283-84. 
Congo,  135,  168,  330, 
Constantine,  55,  69,  89. 
Continent,  Evangelical  Revival, 

210. 
Missionary  Societies,  260. 
Corinth,  44,  62,  63. 
Cornelius,  8,  37,  38,  51. 
Crispus,  51. 
Culross,  98. 
Cyprus,  36,  44,  50. 
Cyrene,  27. 

Damihe,  92. 
Decius,  66. 

Dennis,  Dr.,  208,  233,  258. 
Diaspora,  26,  27,  28. 
Diocletian,  68. 
Dionysins,  43. 
Dominicans,  114,  132. 
Domitian,  43,  47-48,  49. 
Domitilla,  49. 

Easter  controversy,  60. 

Ebionism,  60. 

Eclecticism  when  Christ   came, 

24. 
Edessa,  67. 
Eigg,  93. 

Epaphroditus,  41. 
Ephesus,  43,  45,  50,  62. 
Erasmus,  80,  143. 
Erastus,  51. 

Erskine,  Dr.  John,  159. 
Eternal  punishment,  doctrine  of, 

and  Missions,  285-87. 
Eusebius,  68. 


Evangelical  Revival — 

began  quietly,  196. 

associated  with  prayer,  196. 

in  Britain,  195,  200,  201  seq. 

on  Continent,  210. 

in  America,  210,  211. 

and  inventions,  229. 

eve  of,  200. 
Expectancy  when  Christ  came, 

24. 
Ezra's     reformation     and     ex- 
clusivism,  15. 

Finns,  111. 

Flanders,  128. 

Flavins  Clemens,  49. 

Fliedner,  210. 

France,  43. 

Franciscans,  132. 

Francke,  171,  341. 

Franks,  92. 

French  Revolution,  180,  193. 

Frobisher,  147. 

Fry,    Elizabeth    Gurney,    201, 

231. 
Fuller,  Andrew,  181. 

Gabriel  the  preacher,  128. 
Galatia,  45,  46. 
Galerius,  69. 
Gallicnus,  69. 
Gallus,  92. 
Genesis,  13. 
Gentiles,  37. 

Germanic  peoples  and  Reforma- 
tion, 122. 
Gibbon,  58,  76. 
Gilbert,  Sir  Humphrey,  141. 
Glabrio,  50. 
Glasgow,  100. 
Gnosticism,  59. 
Golden  Age,  16,  20. 


346 


Index 


Gospel,  29. 
Goths,  90,  92,  109. 
Greeks,  19,  22,  25. 
Green,  J.  R.,  199. 
Greenland,  110. 

Haarlem,  128. 

Hadrian,  67. 

Haldane,  220. 

Halle,  171. 

Harnack,  136. 

Heathen    world,    moral     .state, 

28. 
Hebrews,  19. 
Herrnhut,  172. 
Higher  Criticism  and  Missions, 

281-84. 
Hindus,  41. 
History,  God  in,  8,  10. 
Holland,  138. 

Holy  Spirit,  39,  60,  112,  123. 
Howard,  John,  201. 
Hungary,  111. 
Huns,  109. 
Hunte,  Sir  G.  Le,  and  Missions, 

235. 
Huntingdon,  Lady,  195. 
Hus,  John,  125. 
Hymns,  Missionary,  177. 

Iceland,  110. 

Imperialism  and  Missions,  272, 

234  .562. 
India,  113,  180,  184,  237. 

East  India  Company,  183. 

modern  spirit  in,  292,  293. 
Intelligence  Department,  331. 
Inventions   and   Missions,    204, 

229,  315. 
lona,  104  feq^. 
Ireland,  102. 
Isaiah,  16,  20. 


Isolation   necessary  for   e.\pan- 

sion,  14. 
Israel,  why  chosen,  21. 

James  the  Apostle,  42. 

Japan,  164-65,  239-41. 

Jeremiah,  16,  20. 

Jerome,  125. 

Jerusalem,  27,  45. 

Jesuits,  132. 

Jews,  15,  22,  26,  46. 

Joan  of  Arc,  14. 

John  the  Apostle,  33,  43,  73. 

John  of  Monte  Corvino,  114. 

Johnson,  Dr.,  105. 

Jonah,  16,  18. 

Joseph  of  Arimathea,  43. 

Josephus,  15. 

Junia,  36. 

Justin  Martyr,  73,  74. 

Kaiserswerth,  210. 

Keim,  63. 

Kilmary,  etc.,  93. 

Kingdom  of   God  spiritual  and 

universal,  24,  34. 
Knox,     John,     112,    127,    139, 

141. 
Kurtz,  143. 

Lapps,  147. 

Latin  peoples  and  Reformation 

123. 
Lecky,  192. 

Legion  of  Honour,  262. 
Leo  X.,  88. 
Libya,  42. 
Licinius,  69. 

Literature,  Missionary,  278-80. 
Lithuanians,  111. 
Lord's  Supper,  81. 
Loyola,  Ignatius,  164. 


347 


Ind 


ex 


Luke  the  Evangelist,  51. 
Luther,  112,  117,  125,  129. 
Lutkens,  Dr.,  171. 
Lyons,  63, 

Macaulay,  192. 
Maccabees,  23. 
Marco  Polo,  113. 
Marcus  Aurelius,  65,  66,  67. 
Masson,  Professor,  156. 
Materialism  and  Missions,  288. 
Mauritania,  42. 
Mecca,  conference  at,  5. 
Merivale,  Dean,  49. 
Mesopotamia,  42,  67. 
Messianic  King,  42,  67. 
Methodists,  192. 

and  Foreign  Missions,  193. 
Milan,  Edict  of,  55,  69,  87. 
Mill,  John  Stuart,  202. 
Milvian  Bridge,  69. 
Missionaries    in    early    ages    of 
Christianity — 

Aidan,  92,  95. 

Augustine,  92. 

Baithean,  95. 

Blain,  94. 

Brude,  106. 

Bruic,  93,  94. 

Chat  tan,  94. 

Columba,  96,  101  seq. 

Columbanus,  92. 

Cuthbert,  95. 

Kenneth,  95. 

Kentigern  or  Mungo,  96,  99. 

Killian,  92. 

Slaelrubha,  94. 

Martin  of  Tours,  92. 

Michael,  94. 

Ninian,  94,  96  seq. 

Palladius,  98. 

Patrick,  93,  95. 


Missionaries    in    early   ages    of 

Christianity  {continued) — 
Ulphilas,  92. 
Valentinus,  92. 
Virgilius,  92. 
]\Iissionaries    in    later    ages    of 

Christianity — 
Arnot,  Fred,  262. 
Brainerd,  David,  170. 
Buchanan,  Claudius,  341. 
Burns,  William  C,  262. 
Calvert,  262. 
Carey,  158,  180  seq.,  185,  195, 

279,  331,  341. 
Chalmers,  261,  332. 
Chamberlain,  Jacob,  262. 
Damien,  262. 
DuflF,  219,  221,  279,  314. 
Eliot,  John,  170. 
Gilmour,  261. 
Hannington,  248-50. 
Heber,  279. 
Horder,  262. 
Judson,  279. 
Laws,  250,  262. 
Livingstone,     248  -  50,     279, 

315. 
Mackay,  262. 
Marshman,  222. 
Moffat,  231,  249. 
Morrison,  Robert,  212,  222. 
Baton,  Dr.,  261,  315. 
Patteson,  Coleridge,  262. 
Plutschau,  171. 
Schwartz,  98. 
Selwyn,  Bishop,  262. 
Smith,  Stanley,  251. 
Stewart,  James,  262. 
Studd,  C.  T.,  251. 
Taylor,  Annie,  262. 
Taylor,  Hudson,  262. 
Tucker,  Bishop,  234. 


348 


Index 


Missionaries    in    later    ages    of 

Christianity  (continued) — 
Welz,  Baron  von,  156. 
Williams,  262. 
Wilson,  John,  279. 
Wolfall,  148. 
Xavier,  130,  167. 
Ziegenbalg,  171,  314,  341. 
Missionary  methods — 
Apostolic  method,  62. 
educational,  254. 
going  among  obscure   tribes, 

173. 
industrial,  255. 
medical,  255-60. 
specialising,  253. 
Study  Circles,  331. 
women's  work,  257-60. 
Missionary  Societies — 

American  Societies,  210,  260- 

61. 
Baptist    Missionary    Society, 

205. 
Basel  Societies,  205. 
China    Inland    Mission,   243, 

251,  254,  259. 
Church    Missionary    Society, 

207. 
Continental     Societies,     210, 

260. 
London    Missionary    Society, 

205. 
Presbyterian  Societies,  207. 
Romish    Missions,    130,    149, 

164,  165,  242-46. 
Tract  and  Bible  Societies,  207, 

208-10. 
Wesleyan  Missionary  Society, 

207.' 
Missions — 

enemies    of,    161,    270,    273, 

281-88,  315,  325-28. 


Missions  (continued) — 

fruits  of,  160. 

Home  and  Foreign,  interaction 
of,  124,  163,  219,  231,  268- 
69,  278,  290,  302-305,  321. 

inventions  and,  204,  229. 

Materialism  and,  288. 

Methodists  and,  193. 

Modernism  and,  5. 

neglect  of,  129,  150,  155,  163. 

Old  Testament  and,  13. 

Rationalism  in,  176. 

trade  and  politics  in,  271. 

union  in,  260,  322-25. 
Mohammedanism,  5,  6,  41,   91, 
117,  161. 

Missions  to,  236,  256. 
Mohammedans,    modern    spirit 

among,  295-97,  327. 
Monarchianism,  61. 
Monasteries,  ancient  and  modern, 

102. 
Montanists,  60,  78. 
Moravians,  171,  172,  173. 
More,  Hannah,  194. 
Morocco,  6. 

Mott,  John  R.,  301,  302. 
Mozley,  83. 

"Mystery  of  Iniquity,"  56,  113 
123,  326,  339. 

Native  churches — 

their  defects,  276-78. 

their  testimony,  275. 
Nero,  27,  47,  48,  50. 
New  Covenant,  20. 
New  England,  169. 
New  Guinea,  235. 
Nicsea,  90,  92. 
Niebuhr,  65. 

North   Africa,   63,   64,    87,    91, 
327. 


349 


Index 


Numbers  of  Christians,  47,  48, 

57,  116,  117,  232,234. 
Numidia,  64. 

Obedience  the  pathway  to  light, 

9. 
Old  Testament  and  Missions,  13. 
Origen,  73,  79,  80. 

Paganism,  56,  89. 

still  surviving,  317-21. 
Pantheon  in  Eome,  40. 
Parthia,  26,  42,  67. 
Patripassianism,  61. 
Paul    the   Apostle,   14,   20,   28, 

37,  43,  44,  46,  64,  316. 
Peking,  115. 
Pentecost,  20,  27,  33,  35,  38,  45, 

158. 
New,  194. 
Persecution,  48,  50,  64,  65,  66, 

127,  238. 
Persia,  6. 
Peter  the  Apostle,  8,  28,  36,  37, 

43. 
Pharisees,  16. 
Phenice,  36. 
Philanthropy,  46. 
Philip  the  Evangelist,  36. 
Philippi,  44,  74. 
Philosophy,  its  failure,  24. 
Picts,  07. 
Pietism,  170,  172. 
Pilgrim  Fathers,  147. 
Pliny,  33,  51,  55. 
Poles,  110. 
Poly  carp,  73,  74. 
Pomeranians,  111. 
Pomponia  Graecina,  49. 
Popery,  122. 

Post- Reformation  Church,  193. 
Prayer  in  Mission  revival,  175. 


Preaching,  125. 
Predestination,  138,  182. 
Prophets,  25. 
Protestantism,  123. 
Pul)lius,  50. 

Quakers,  203. 

Raleigh,  Sir  Walter,  141. 
Ramsay,  Sir  William,  49. 
Rationalism,  176,  327. 
Red  Indians,  169. 
Reformation,  88,  129,  162. 
Religio  illicitae  64. 

licita,  69. 
Renaissance,  89. 
Renan,  25. 

Robert  College,  6,  211. 
Roman  Empire,  26,  38,  40,  62, 

55,  67-70. 
Rome,  19,  36,  43,  63. 
Romish  Missions,  129,  149,  164, 

168. 
Roosevelt,  234. 
Ruth,  19. 

Sabbatli -schools  begun,  201. 
Sabellianism,  61. 
Sacerdotalism,  56,  87,  110,  112, 

168,  248,  327. 
Samaritans,  36. 
Sardinia,  27. 
Scandinavians,  109. 
Schaff,  68. 
Schultze,  49. 
Scotland,  92  seq.,  96,  175,  216. 

place-names  in,  93,  94. 

Church  of,  158-59. 
Scythia,  42. 
Semitic  peoples,  21. 
Serampore,  183. 
Sergius  Paulus,  50. 


350 


Index 


Severinus,  92. 
Sharp,  Granville,  203. 
Sierra  Leone,  234. 
Simeon,  23,  25. 
Simeon,  Charles,  219,  341. 
Simon  Zelotes,  42,  43. 
Slavery,  133. 

abolished,  203,  217. 
Slavs,  109. 
Smith,  Adam,  204. 
Smyrna,  73. 
Social  questions,  7. 
Socinianism,  89,  155,  327. 
Soudan,  crisis  in,  6. 
South  Africa,  171. 
Spain,  42. 

Spencer,  Herbert,  335. 
Stephen,  35. 
Student    Volunteer    Movement, 

252,  289. 
Suetonius,  48. 
Switzerland,  92. 

Tacitus,  15,  47. 

Teaching  of  the  Twelve  Ajwstles, 

71. 
TertuUian,  73,  77,  78,  87,  89. 
Thaddeus,  42. 
Thomas,  42. 
Thuringia,  92. 
Tibet,  modern  spirit  in,  311. 
Timothy,  41. 
Titus,  41. 

Trajan,  33,  50,  51,  55,  67. 
Tranquebar,  171,  176. 


Tribal  deities,  18. 
Turkey,  117. 
Tyndale,  127. 

Uganda,  234. 

Union    in    Missions,   260,   322- 

25. 
Urgency  of  situation,  267,  297- 

302,  309  seq.,  337  seq. 
Ursinus,  157. 

Vasa,  Gustavus,  147. 
Vespasian,  50. 
Vikings,  110. 
Villegagnon,  146. 
Vosges,  92. 

Wales,  99. 

Warneck,  149,  298-300. 
Watts,  Isaac,  195. 
Wesley,  John,  8,  37,  192. 
Whitefield,  8,  192,  195. 

and  slavery,  202. 
Whithorn,  97,  98. 
Wilberforce,  216,  231,  341. 
Wille  the  preacher,  128. 
Wingate,  Sir  Reginald,  296. 
Wishart,  George,  127. 
World  Conference,  1910,  311. 
Wyclif,  112,  125. 

"  Yellow  Peril,"  295,  309. 

Zinzendorf,  172. 
Zwingli,  112. 


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